EU lawmakers threaten to sue, to speed up rule of law action

BRUSSELS — European Union lawmakers threatened Thursday to sue the bloc’s executive branch within weeks if it fails to take action against countries allegedly violating democratic standards, notably Hungary and Poland. In a resolution, adopted by 506 votes to 150 with 28 abstentions, they urged European Parliament President David Sassoli to demand that the European Commission “fulfil its obligations” within two weeks, under a system tying access to some EU funds to a country’s respect for the rule of law. In Warsaw, Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro called the European Parliament’s resolution “a clearly anti-democratic and unlawful document,” and he accused the lawmakers of seeking “to impose their will on a sovereign and democratic country.” German Greens lawmaker Terry Reintke, who helped supervise the assembly’s work on the mechanism, said that “instead of defending European values, the Commission is watching, writing reports and sitting on its hands.” “People in Poland, Hungary and elsewhere need to know that the Commission is on their side and will fight for their rights as EU citizens,” she said. Also Thursday, the Commission said it has asked Poland to withdraw a motion sent by the Polish prime minister to his country’s constitutional court seeking a ruling on whether EU or Polish law has primacy in the central European nation.