European Parliament debate on rule of law in Poland in late February

The Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament on Thursday decided that a plenary debate on the rule of law in Poland will be held at the end of February. On Monday, the EP's Civil Liberties, Justice and Internal Affairs Committee passed a resolution endorsing the European Commission's decision to propose the activation of Article 7 of the EU Treaty against Poland (a clear risk of a serious breach of EU values). The Civil Liberties Committee endorsed the European Commission's decision and asked Poland to address the risk. MEPs called on the EU Council "to undertake swift action in accordance with the provisionsset out" in Article 7 and asked that Parliament be fully informed of progress made and action taken at every step of the procedure. In December 2017, the European Commission turned to EU member states to launch an infringement procedure against Poland concerning the rule of law in connection with Poland's reform of its judicial system.