Recovery of penalties imposed on Poland under the Treaties
Dear Budget,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:
1. When will be the next payments due paid to Poland?
2. What will be the amount of payments due paid to Poland?
3. Will the penalty payments imposed by the order of the CJEU in case C‑121/21 R be deducted from the next payments due to Poland?
4. If the answer to question 3 is affirmative, what will be the legal basis for the set-off?
5. If the answer to question 3 is affirmative, what will be the amount of interest deducted from the payments due to Poland?
6. If the answer to question 3 is affirmative, from which policies and from which EU funds will the penalty payments be deducted?
Yours faithfully,
Hubert Smoliński
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Dear Sir,
Thank you for your e-mail of 29 November 2021.
We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents,
which was registered on 30 November 2021 under reference number GESTDEM
2021/7432.
In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, your application
will be handled within 15 working days. The time limit will expire on
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Yours faithfully,
Access to Documents Team
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[5]RE: Your request for access to documents — GESTDEM 2021/7432 - Recovery
of penalties imposed on Poland under the Treaties - Ares(2021)7448320
(Please use this link only if you are an Ares user – Svp, utilisez ce lien
exclusivement si vous êtes un(e) utilisateur d’Ares)
Dear Sir,
We refer to your request of 29 November 2021 concerning a request for
access to documents, registered on the same day under the above-mentioned
reference number.
We understand that your questions refer to payments to Poland and the
penalty imposed by the order of the CJEU in case C‑121/21.
Your application is currently being handled, but the information is not
contained in any existing documents. The reply will therefore involve
compiling information from a number of different documents and sources.
For this reason, your request will be considered as a request for
information and not as a request for documents within the meaning of
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to documents.
Notwithstanding this requalification, you will receive an answer by
21/12/2021.
yours sincerely,
DG Budget Access to Documents team
European Commission
Directorate-General for Budget
Unit 03 – Strategic Coordination and Communication
[6][DG BUDG request email]
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
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Link: [4]colorSchemeMapping
[5]RE: Your request for access to documents — GESTDEM 2021/7432
requalified as request of information on 2/12/2021- Recovery of penalties
imposed on Poland under the Treaties - Ares(2021)7697946 (Please use this
link only if you are an Ares user – Svp, utilisez ce lien exclusivement si
vous êtes un(e) utilisateur d’Ares)
Dear Mr Smoliński,
I refer to your request of 29 November 2021.
The Commission recovers the penalties imposed by the Court of Justice of
the EU in the order of 20 September 2021 in case C121/21R in conformity
with the Financial Regulation (OJ L 193, 30.7.2018).
Like in any other cases of penalties imposed by the Court on Member
States, Poland is under the obligation to pay them. In practical terms,
this is done through calls for payment by the Commission to Poland.
The deadline to pay the penalties imposed in case C-121/21R has not yet
expired. The non-respect of the deadline for payment by Poland would have
the following consequences:
(a) the application of late payment interest at the rate applied by the
European Central Bank to its principal refinancing operations in euro, as
published in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union,
in force on the first calendar day of the month in which the order
imposing the daily penalties has been adopted, increased by three and a
half percentage points according to Article 99(4)(b) of the Financial
Regulation; and
(b) the amounts due plus default interest would be offset in accordance
with Articles 101(1) and 102 of the Financial Regulation.
Payments to Member States are a recurrent, daily occurrence. As an
illustration of this, in November Poland received 37 payments for a global
amount of approximatively EUR 400 million under several EU programmes and
projects. The choice of the appropriate payment to offset would be made
among those available if and when the call for payment becomes overdue.
Yours sincerely,
José A. López Sánchez
Head of Unit
[6]cid:image001.png@01D2C430.3D802BD0
European Commission
DG Budget
Treasury, accounting and financial reporting
Recovery of debts
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
[7][email address]
Dear Mr. Lopez Sanchez,
Thank you very much for your reply.
Could I kindly ask you to answer the follow-up questions?
1. When the EC exactly started the calculation of penalties for Poland's non-compliance with the CJEU orders C-121/21R and C‑204/21 R?
2. Does the EC follow the enforcement procedure under the Decision C(2018) 5119 to recover penalties?
3. If yes, when was drawn up the first letter requesting payment?
Yours sincerely,
Hubert Smoliński
[1]RE: Your request for access to documents — GESTDEM 2021/7432
requalified as request of information on 2/12/2021- Recovery of penalties
imposed on Poland under the Treaties - Ares(2021)7697946 -
Ares(2021)7797254 (Please use this link only if you are an Ares user –
Svp, utilisez ce lien exclusivement si vous êtes un(e) utilisateur d’Ares)
Dear Mr. Smoliński,
Thank you for your new request,
Please let us gather the information. I will reply as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely,
José A. López Sánchez
Head of Unit
European Commission
DG Budget
Treasury, accounting and financial reporting
Recovery of debts
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
+32 2 299 01 05
+32 460 790105
[email address]
Disclaimers:
The views expressed are purely those of the writer and may not under
circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the European
Commission.
The information contained in this message and any attachments are intended
solely for the attention and use of the named addressee and may be
confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, you are reminded that
the information remains the property of the sender. You must not use,
disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely on this email. If you have
received this message in error, please contact the sender immediately and
irrevocably delete or destroy this message and any copies.
Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]Edit-Time-Data
Link: [3]themeData
Link: [4]colorSchemeMapping
[5]Your request for access to documents — GESTDEM 2021/7432 requalified
as request of information on 2/12/2021- Recovery of penalties imposed on
Poland under the Treaties - Ares(2021)7697946 - Ares(2021)7797254 -
Ares(2022)241039 (Please use this link only if you are an Ares user –
Svp, utilisez ce lien exclusivement si vous êtes un(e) utilisateur d’Ares)
Dear Mr Smoliński,
Please find below the reply to the questions you sent to Mr López Sanchez
on 14 December 2021.
1. When the EC exactly started the calculation of penalties for
Poland's non-compliance with the CJEU orders C-121/21R and C‑204/21 R?
Reply: The penalties start accruing as of the date of the notification of
the CJEU order to the Member State i.e. for the case C-121/21 R on 20
September 2021 and for the case C‑204/21 R on 3 November 2021
respectively.
2. Does the EC follow the enforcement procedure under the Decision
C(2018) 5119 to recover penalties?
Reply: Should the Member State fail to respect the deadline for payment,
the amounts due plus default interest would be offset against payments due
to the Member State, in line with the Financial Regulation (OJ L 193,
30.7.2018).
3. If yes, when was drawn up the first letter requesting payment?
Reply: The Commission is sending regular calls for payments on a monthly
basis for as long as required.
Kind regards,
Paola Icardi
Paola ICARDI
Deputy Head of Unit
[6]cid:image001.png@01CE0517.1123F940
European Commission
DG Budget
Treasury, accounting and financial reporting
Recovery of debts
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
+32 2 296.70.71
[7][email address]
From: LOPEZ SANCHEZ Jose Antonio <[8][email address]>
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2021 3:49 PM
To: Hubert Smoliński <[9][FOI #10289 email]>
Cc: BUDG ACCES DOCUMENTS <[10][DG BUDG request email]>
Subject: RE: Your request for access to documents — GESTDEM 2021/7432
requalified as request of information on 2/12/2021- Recovery of penalties
imposed on Poland under the Treaties - Ares(2021)7697946 -
Ares(2021)7797254
[11]RE: Your request for access to documents — GESTDEM 2021/7432
requalified as request of information on 2/12/2021- Recovery of penalties
imposed on Poland under the Treaties - Ares(2021)7697946 -
Ares(2021)7797254 (Please use this link only if you are an Ares user –
Svp, utilisez ce lien exclusivement si vous êtes un(e) utilisateur d’Ares)
Dear Mr. Smoliński,
Thank you for your new request,
Please let us gather the information. I will reply as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely,
José A. López Sánchez
Head of Unit
European Commission
DG Budget
Treasury, accounting and financial reporting
Recovery of debts
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
+32 2 299 01 05
+32 460 790105
[12][email address]
Disclaimers:
The views expressed are purely those of the writer and may not under
circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the European
Commission.
The information contained in this message and any attachments are intended
solely for the attention and use of the named addressee and may be
confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, you are reminded that
the information remains the property of the sender. You must not use,
disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely on this email. If you have
received this message in error, please contact the sender immediately and
irrevocably delete or destroy this message and any copies.