President's Supreme Court law query will not delay EU money says aide

The decision by Andrzej Duda, the Polish president, to refer a Supreme Court law containing EU-required reforms to the Constitutional Tribunal will not significantly delay billions in EU funding that Poland is waiting for, Duda's aide has said.

In February, Duda decided not to sign into law an amendment to the Supreme Court Law and instead sent it to the tribunal for verification, expressing doubts about the constitutionality of the changes that were meant to meet the EU rule of law requirements.

Critics say the move will further delay the disbursement of the funds that Poland has been locked out of for almost a year.

But Marcin Przydacz, head of the presidential International Policy Bureau, said on the state-owned TVP1 channel on Friday that "the process of Constitutional Court referral will not significantly delay the transfer of money.

"If the Tribunal rules as quickly as possible... the president will in fact be obliged to sign it," Przydacz said.

Przydacz also said that laws concerning several other milestones, or EU conditions for the disbursement of funds, have not been passed by parliament yet.

Poland is due to receive EUR 23.9 billion in grants and EUR 11.5 billion in loans from the EU's post-pandemic Recovery and Resilience Facility, but is required by the EU to make significant changes to its justice system and implement several other crucial reforms.