A European Commission deadline for Poland to abide by Article 7 expired on March 20, opening the door for Warsaw to lose it voting rights in the European Council as well as billions of euros in EU funding.

Poland's ruling conservative Law and Justice party made clear on March 20 that it has no intention of taking Brussels' advice that it back away from its new round of controversial judicial reforms, saying it had a right to give the government the authority to fire and hire judges.

The Europe...