Question for written answer E-002511/2021 to the Commission Rule 138 Łukasz Kohut (S&D), Janina Ochojska (PPE), Andrzej Halicki (PPE), Krzysztof Hetman (PPE), Jarosław Kalinowski (PPE), Sylwia Spurek (Verts/ALE), Elżbieta Katarzyna Łukacijewska (PPE), Magdalena Adamowicz (PPE), Danuta Maria Hübner (PPE), Tomasz Frankowski (PPE), Róża Thun und Hohenstein (PPE) Subject: Evaluation of Poland's draft National Recovery Plan On 3 May 2021, the Polish Government submitted a draft National Recovery Plan to the Commission. The draft must then be assessed by the Commission, based on the criteria listed in the Regulation establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility. These criteria include effectively addressing the challenges identified under the European Semester (as one of the criteria for assessing adequacy), ensuring effective monitoring and implementation of the recovery plan (as one of the criteria for effectiveness) and contributing to the prevention of corruption, fraud and conflicts of interest (as one of the criteria for efficiency). One of the EU Council’s recommendations to Poland for the European Semester 2020 is to improve the investment climate, in particular by protecting the independence of the courts. 1. How does the Commission assess the changes made by the Polish Government to the judiciary in the context of protecting the independence of the courts? 2. In view of Poland's refusal to cooperate with the European Public Prosecutor's Office, which is tasked with investigating offences against the EU budget, and Poland's challenge to the Regulation on the protection of the Union's budget in the event of a breach by a Member State of the rule of law, how does the Commission assess the likelihood of ensuring the effective monitoring of the recovery plan, particularly at the level of final beneficiaries (including local authorities), and of its contribution towards preventing corruption, including political corruption? PE693.256v01-00.