Poland can't get its money back after the EU fined the country's previous, conservative government

BRUSSELS — Poland won't get its money back after a previous, conservative government was hit by a record-breaking fine by the European Union for ignoring a court order to undo changes to its judicial system, an EU high court said Wednesday.

According to the ruling, the EU's executive Commission was within its rights to withhold 320 million euros ($332 million) from payments to Poland, after Warsaw refused to dismantle a judicial disciplinary chamber used to target judges who spoke out against the ruling Law and Justice party.

''In recovering the amounts payable, the commission did not infringe on EU law,'' the Luxembourg-based General Court said in a statement.

Poland in 2023 elected a pro-rule of law government headed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, which has stepped its cooperation with the Commission, but the objection to the fine had yet to wind its way through the court.

The EU and Poland now have especially tight relations since Poland is holding the EU's 6-month rotating presidency.

The European Commission launched infringement proceedings in 2019 as part of a long-running dispute between Brussels and the nationalist governments in Poland and Hungary over democratic standards and the rule of law in the 27-nation bloc.

Two years later, judges slapped a $1.2 million a day fine on Poland after escalating tensions over judicial independence and the primacy of EU law. Weeks before, Poland's constitutional court ruled that Polish laws have supremacy over those of the European Union in areas where they clash.

Polish President Andrzej Duda backed down in 2022 after Brussels froze the disbursement of billions of euros in pandemic relief money.

''It's a good reminder that the European Commission is very capable of collecting fines by withholding them from payments,'' Jakub Jaraczewski, research coordinator at Democracy Reporting International, told the Associated Press.

While 320 million euros is currently the largest fine issued by the court, Hungary is facing a 200 million euros ($216 million) fine for persistently breaking the bloc's asylum rules, despite a previous European Court of Justice ruling.

According to Jaraczewski, both Hungary and Poland are net recipients of money from the EU, giving Brussels leverage in collecting what it's owed.

Both the commission and Poland have two months to appeal the decision.

___ Quell reported from The Hague, Netherlands.