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bne February 2018 Central Europe I 41
ect once it had been constructed.
Babis has put out a smoke screen of different excuses over the years and now says the company’s documenta- tion has been lost. But he has in the past admitted that the bearer shares were held by his family. A whistle- blowing website has also published bank documents that purport to show that this company persuaded a bank to issue a loan by claiming that it was really owned by Agrofert.
Babis now claims that he had nothing to do with the company and is suing the Julius Suman website. He has also
“Babis has put out a smokescreen of different excuses over the years”
Brussels triggers “nuclear option” against Poland
complained to Olaf and the European Court of Justice over the way Olaf handled the probe.
Czech police, now under an Ano minister of interior, are still investi- gating the case and have asked parliament to remove Babis’ immunity from prosecution.
The immunity committee and Babis are dragging the process out.
Now the future of forming a new government is in limbo.
All mainstream parties have refused to back Babis because of the EU investigation. They have also accused Babis of only going through the motions of conducting negotiations with them because he is relying on the president’s support to maintain his minority government.
bne IntelliNews
The European Commission
has triggered the so-called “nuclear option” against Poland for undermining the rule of law, the commission’s Vice-President Frans Timmermans said on December 20.
The decision marks a new low in the prolonged spat between Warsaw’s populist Law and Justice (PiS) govern- ment and the commission. It will also likely isolate Poland further in the bloc, shortly before negotiations on the EU’s next budget kick off. Poland is a major recipient of funding from the EU.
Poland’s state broadcaster TVP Info,
a staunchly pro-PiS news channel, has suggested that the triggering of the “nuclear option” – the moniker of Article 7 of the EU’s Treaty of Lisbon – is led
by France and Germany in retaliation against a sovereign government
that has stood up to the EU’s powers.
The “nuclear option” might lead to strip- ping Poland of its voting rights in the EU. The commission has now initiated the first step in the procedure, which is to ask other member states to “determine that there is a clear risk of a serious breach by a member state” of the values enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty. It will take a majority of four fifths in the vote in the Council of the EU early next year for the EU to state officially that such
a risk exists.
“The union is founded on the values
of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities,” the treaty states.
Poland has arguably violated the rule
of law principle by pushing through a reform of the judiciary that has been criti- cised for putting the Polish courts under the control of the PiS. That, in turn, could lead to compromising human rights such as the right to fair trial, it is feared.
The European Commission has been probing the issue of the rule of law in Poland since early 2016, following PiS’ takeover of the country’s Constitutional Tribunal, which was completed in December last year. That was the ruling party’s first successful attempt to exert control over the judiciary branch.
PiS ignored several warnings and recom- mendations from the commission, Tim- mermans told a news conference during which he announced the decision. “The situation has deteriorated,” he said, indicating Poland avoided dialogue
with the commission.
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