On Wednesday, the European Court of Justice, the most senior court of the European Union, has ordered Poland to pay a daily fine of €1 million ($1.2 million) for failing to suspend a disciplinary chamber for judges that the bloc says breaches EU law.

Seven cases are still pending before the disciplinary chamber. The Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Mora previously agreed to suspend the disciplinary chamber ‘in its current form’  because the chamber was failing to fulfil its function. But the September deadline to present a plan for reform passed without any change.

This is considered yet another escalation of the conflict between Warsaw and Brussels.

The ECJ said on Wednesday that Poland was breaking the law by maintaining the disciplinary chamber of its Supreme Court, a body that’s deemed to be incompatible with EU law.

The ECJ said in a July judgment that the chamber did not ‘provide all the guarantees of impartiality and independence and, in particular, [was] not protected from the direct or indirect influence of the Polish legislature and executive.’

Speaking to Al Jazeera Public Liberties, judge Dariusz Mazur judge of the regional court at Krakow and the spokesperson of the Association of Judges ‘Themis’, said: ‘The Polish government did not leave the ECJ any choice but to fine Poland. The Polish government had violated both the 14 July 2021 interim measure as well as the 15 July 2021 Grand Chamber judgment.’

Mazur further said: ‘Things have gone so far that further ‘cat and mouse’ play by the Polish government of the EU institutions is not possible.’

Warsaw has reacted to the ECJ ruling with outrage and stated that it will not pay the fine.