Respect for the rule of law is one of the key conditions for EU membership. No country can join or remain in the EU without an independent judiciary.

On 23 January, a panel composed of three chambers of the Supreme Court will decide whether judges nominated by the new, politicized National Council of the Judiciary should be allowed to adjudicate. The “legacy” justices of the Supreme Court in the Civil, Criminal, and Labour Law chambers were asked by First President of the Supreme Court Małgorzata Gersdorf to rule on the issue. Their resolution will be binding on the Supreme Court.

As far as I can remember, this is the first time that judges from the Netherlands have joined a silent march at all. Marching together with other judges from Europe in another country is unique. And I know it is politically sensitive. It emphasizes how much we are worried about what’s going on in Poland and elsewhere in Europe,” a senior judge of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal explained his reasons for joining Polish colleagues in a silent protest in Warsaw against curbing the independence of judges in Poland.

“I feel ashamed when I see that the First President of the Supreme Court can say such things about Poland. Ashamed that someone like that was ever appointed to that office. Thankfully, this will soon change.” This is how Polish President Andrzej Duda referred on government-controlled TVP to the First President of the Supreme Court, professor Małgorzata Gersdorf

According to the deans of law departments of 13 universities around Poland, the bill submitted to the Sejm by Law and Justice unconstitutionally restricts the fundamental rights and freedoms of judges, as citizens of the Republic of Poland, and introduces disciplinary liability of judges for their judicial activity which is in compliance with the applicable law

Disciplinary officer Przemysław Radzik has brought disciplinary charges for violating the dignity of the office of judge and accused two justices of abuse of power for implementing a CJEU verdict. This is punishment for their courage in querying the legality of the new National Council of the Judiciary (NCJ) and of the judges promoted by it. Radzik is also seeking to suspend both judges.

The First President of the Supreme Court prof. Małgorzata Gersdorf in a powerful open letter asks Polish authorities that the hatred of judges and courts stops being used as a weapon in the struggle for power.

A letter from National Prosecutor Bogdan Święczkowski to line prosecutors represents the opening of another front in Law and Justice’s fight to put a choke hold on the independence of the justice system.

A bill appeared on the Sejm’s website during the night of 12–13 December, prohibiting judges from doing anything that is not in line with the Law and Justice party’s (PiS’) thoughts. It introduces the whims of Ziobro’s ministry and Przyłębska’s Constitutional Tribunal – instead of the Constitution and European law. Fear of PiS – instead of judicial dignity. This is how Poland is to be if this bill is enacted

From now on, it will be possible to invoke recent rulings by the EU Court of Justice and the Polish Supreme Court as a means of undermining judges appointed by the new National Council of the Judiciary. It is highly likely we will see competing and contradictory verdicts and resolutions being handed down by courts, including the various chambers of the Supreme Court. “This needs to be dealt with via legislation,” says Michał Laskowski, Spokesman for the Supreme Court.