The European Union has put more pressure on Poland's eurosceptic government to scrap changes to its supreme court, in a test of the EU's power to impose democratic standards on ex-communist members in the east.
The European Commission's decision to issue a formal complaint to Warsaw on Wednesday, a step in the EU's new and untried Rule of Law process, prompted Poland's justice minister to denounce a "one-sided opinion showing a distorted image".
The warning was announced by the EU's main negotiator, Frans Timmermans, the deputy head of the European Commission.
It comes after months of fruitless diplomacy since Poland's Law and Justice (PiS) party won elections in October and imposed changes on the Constitutional Court and the Polish public broadcaster.
"Despite our best efforts, until now we have not been able yet to find solutions," Timmermans told reporters.
He stressed dialogue would go on and would not speculate on penalties for Poland.
It is by far the biggest of the former Soviet satellites that joined the EU a decade ago and a powerful player in the 28-nation bloc, which is bracing for upheaval if Britain votes to leave in a referendum this month.
Under a procedure adopted two years ago after a frustrating battle between the EU and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Poland has two weeks to respond to the formal "opinion".
If more talks fail, the commission can recommend its own solution and set a deadline to implement it.
Deputy Foreign Minister Konrad Szymanski said Poland was ready for discussion of "anti-crisis scenarios" to ease EU concern that an increase in the number of judges needed for a ruling, a rejection of pending judicial nominees and other government decisions have undermined the court's independence.
But, Szymanski said, the government would not agree to measures that would disappoint its supporters in parliament: "(They) must be in line with the parliamentary majority's expectations," he said. "That is the most important thing."
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters in Brussels: "Democracy is more than a parliamentary majority. It's also about civil society."
