EU Takes Poland to Court for Undermining Telecoms Authority

(Bloomberg) -- The European Union took Poland to the EU’s top court over changes to a telecommunication law that paved the way for the firing of the industry’s head regulator.

The European Commission said it found Poland’s explanations “unsatisfactory” for why it amended some of the country’s telecommunications law in May 2020. The legislation allowed the government to dismiss the head of the national regulatory authority, whose term lasted until September 2021.

“Under EU rules, the conditions that can result in an early dismissal of an NRA Head must be laid down before the start of the mandate,” The EU’s executive said in a statement. “ This is an important safeguard to guarantee the independence of the national regulatory authority from political pressure.”

Poland has been locked in a multiple legal disputes with the EU since the ruling nationalist coalition of the Law & Justice party took power in 2015. 

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