‘Don’t IGNORE us!’ Meddling EU begs Poland to STOP ‘threatening’ justice reforms

is planning a number of changes to the way its justice system is run, with the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party seeking to increase its control after a huge electoral success in 2015.

The nationalist and eurosceptic party want to give justice ministers the power to hire and fire senior judges – something that has raised concerns among chiefs. 

Frans Timmermans, the vice-president of the European Commission, urged Warsaw not to “ignore” Brussels and respect its more moderate approach to law across the bloc. 

The Dutch politician said PiS already had such a strong mandate it could find other ways to establish itself without adjusting the country’s justice ststem. 

Mr Timmermans said the changes “do create a threat to the rule of law, a system threat to the rule of law in Poland”. 

He urged Poland not to “simply ignore” the EU’s concerns and seek another path forward. 

Mr Timmermans said: “Surely, surely the Polish government cannot just simply ignore all of that and pretend as if there’s only one guy in the Commission that has a problem and there is not an issue at all apart from that.

“Surely the Polish government knows by now there are many concerns in many member states about this.”

He said PiS’s success in the 2015 election means the party does not need to resort to legal changes. 

Mr Timmermans said: ”You have so much room for manoeuvre with the political mandate you got from your voters without having to go after the rule of law. There’s no need to do that. Please refrain from doing that.

“If we do not maintain the rule of law in Europe, then we will take leave of the most fundamental values of a European cooperation. And this will not just affect the member state Poland. It will affect all of us.”

The PiS government accuses Mr Timmermans, who has led a legal case against it for more than a year, of waging a vendetta against Poland.

But concern at the way PiS is running Poland is growing – with one man setting himself on fire in protest last month. 

Today hundreds of people marched in Warsaw in memory of the 54-year-old man, who died during his protest. 

Piotr Szczesny said PiS was infringing on the freedom of Polish people, the courts and the media. 

He wrote in a leaflet: “I love freedom above all. That’s why I decided to commit the act of self-immolation and I hope that my death will shake the conscience of many people.”

It is the latest in a series of clashes between Poland and the EU, with Brussels and Warsaw at loggerheads over not just judicial reform but also Turkey’s membership bid. 

While the EU has repeatedly warned Turkey to improve its civil rights record or face rejection as a potential EU member state, Poland has spoken out in favour of acceptance. 

Last month Polish president Andrzej Duda called for “full membership” for Turkey in the EU. 

He said: “I hope that the Turkish path as well as that of the EU will always go in the same direction and that at the end there will be a full membership of Turkey in the European Union.”