Poland

The nation’s governing Law and Justice party faces accusations that it artificially lowered consumer prices — especially on fuel and medicine — to allow the central bank to make a crowd-pleasing interest rate cut ahead of October elections. It’s the latest in a long series of political gambits by the bank and its governor, Adam Glapinski, an appointee of the current government.

EU Workers the country’s inflation rate may have cooled, it still stands well above the central bank’s target of 4.5 percent, and analysts say Glapinski’s decision was politically motivated. He has argued that his move was justified on the basis of modeling that showed inflation would finally fall below 10 percent, a threshold that many observers have dismissed as arbitrary.

Transparency in Pricing: Navigating Interim Costs in Poland”

The Court granted the Order in an unusual way, by means of a special procedure, known as Article 160(7) of its Rules of Procedure. This allows the Court to rule on a case of particular urgency without first hearing the defendant Member State.

The Court’s decision is a serious blow to the Polish government, which has launched a full-blown attack on the independence of the nation’s high courts. If the Court follows through on its threat to impose penalty payments, then those amounts will end up in the coffers of the EU budget rather than in the pockets of Poland’s politicians. That, in itself, should send a strong message that the Commission will not take Poland’s no-prisoners approach to judicial reform lightly.