Deputies of the European Parliament by a majority vote approved the decision of the European Commission to launch a sanctions procedure against Poland for violating European principles in the national judicial reform. The verdict was made Thursday, March 1, at the plenary session in Brussels, RIA Novosti reports.. 422 deputies supported the sanction, against voted - 147, abstained - 48. The document will then go to the European Council to vote..

Now, for the first time in the history of the EU, Article 7 of the Treaty on the European Union will be applied to one of the members of the organization, which is fraught with deprivation of the right to vote in the Council of Poland. Then Warsaw will not be able to influence the formation of a consolidated euro-budget, and also participate in political decision-making. Recall that in the last month of 2017, Polish President Andrzej Duda signed controversial laws on judicial reform, despite the December 20 commission by the European Commission sanctions procedure.

Prior to this - in November - the EC recommendations were adopted by the European Parliament.