Poland Drags Heels on Releasing Funds to Former Ruling Party
(Bloomberg) -- Poland’s finance chief opted to delay the release of disputed state funds to the former ruling nationalist party, risking further political turmoil ahead of the country’s presidential election.
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Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski said he asked the electoral commission for additional clarification on its decision to grant the release of disputed state funds. That followed a December ruling by Poland’s top court that the Law & Justice party should receive its state allowance, which was frozen last August over concerns about financial mismanagement.
But amid tense political disputes with the former ruling party, the authorities in Warsaw are stalling on releasing the funds. In a written statement, Domanski asked the electoral commission to provide precise guidelines on implementing their decision, which he said lacked clarity.
Domanski’s words put the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk at loggerheads with the same court that will certify this year’s presidential ballot. Since ousting Law & Justice from power, Tusk has pledged to dismantle eight years of nationalist rule by restoring the independence of the judicial system.
Reversing the changes is an arduous task without the backing of President Andrzej Duda, a staunch ally of the previous government who can veto legislation. Duda, who approved most of the controversial judicial reforms, has called the new government’s moves illegal and blocked Tusk’s agenda.
While Tusk’s administration didn’t challenge the court’s verdict on recent ballots, it maintains that the body is illegal, because it was established in 2018 amid controversial judicial reforms by the last government.
Those reforms triggered a harsh conflict between Brussels and Warsaw, leading to the suspension of billions of euros from the European Union’s resilience and recovery plan. The EU’s tribunal also questioned the chamber’s legality in a 2021 judgment, raising concerns about the appointment of pro-government judges.
Last year, Poland’s electoral commission fined Law & Justice for funneling extra public money into its electoral campaigning on top of its regular state allowance. It slashed the former ruling party’s state subsidy by about a quarter to 28 million zloty ($7.2 million). Law & Justice successfully appealed against the decision at the supreme court.
--With assistance from Maciej Martewicz.
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