CJEU Hearing: Poland v Commission (recovery by set-off of interim-measure penalty payments)
Why it matters
The Court has no bailiff: when a member state refuses to pay a penalty, the Commission's only real remedy is to deduct it from EU funds the state is owed. It did exactly that to Poland, recovering over EUR 320 million in daily penalties imposed for failing to suspend the Supreme Court's Disciplinary Chamber under the interim order of 27 October 2021 (C-204/21 R). The General Court upheld those recovery decisions in February 2025; Poland is appealing to the Grand Chamber. Its principal claim is narrow but pointed: annulment of 50% of the amounts taken for 15 July to 28 October 2022, on the argument that a full-rate penalty was disproportionate once it had complied with half the interim measures. A win would not make set-off unlawful, but it would require the daily rate to track partial compliance, changing how every future Article 279 TFEU order is priced and enforced, including against Hungary.
What to watch
- Whether the Grand Chamber entertains proportionality review of a daily rate once partial compliance begins, or holds the rate fixed until compliance is complete.
- Whether the Court reaffirms the Commission's power to recover by set-off, after already upholding it on appeal in the Turow case (C-554/24 P, January 2026).
- Whether an Advocate General's opinion is scheduled, which would place judgment well into 2027.
- Whether the Polish government frames the outcome domestically as recovering money lost by its predecessor's non-compliance.
- Case context: appeal against General Court judgment of 5 February 2025 in joined cases T-830/22 and T-156/23; Court of Justice - Grand Chamber; joined case C-297/25 P.
Sources
- CJEU judicial calendar
- Infocuria case C-296/25 P
- OJ notice of appeal, C-296/25 P (C/2025/3506)
- CJEU press release on the General Court judgment, 5 February 2025
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