The Constitutional Tribunal will consider Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s motion to examine the constitutionality of the provisions of the EU Treaty on 13 July. ‘The applicant is acting in bad faith and creating a false conflict between EU law and the Constitution,’ explains Professor Stanisław Biernat. This is an interpretation of international law like that from imperial states, from Russia,’ considers Professor Jerzy Kranz.

Why the existing EU instruments have been unable to prevent the “grand corruption”? Why the risk increases significantly with the launch of the Recovery Fund? Piotr Bogdanowicz and Piotr Buras argue that
the prompt use of the rule of law conditionality mechanism is a necessary measure as the EU defends
itself against the exacerbation of “grand corruption” and “authoritarian equilibrium”
that threaten the future of the EU.

The recruitment for the office of judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union can be entered up to 19 July. An inter-ministerial group will assess the candidates. We explain the procedure and the achievements of the most probable candidates

Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro is resorting to an extraordinary complaint to punish Judge Waldemar Żurek, one of the symbols of the defense of independent courts in Poland. He appealed to the Supreme Court against a judgement which was favourable for Żurek regarding his property settlements with his ex-wife.   Judge Waldemar Żurek from the Regional […]

The president of the court in Gorzów Wielkopolski ordered the removal of an important judgment regarding the omission of Julia Przyłębska’s Constitutional Tribunal ruling from the database of judgments. The judgment will return to the database after the full data of Mariusz Muszyński from the Constitutional Tribunal is deleted and his identity is concealed under the initials “M.M.”. The public prosecutor is joining the case.

President Andrzej Duda has issued a regulation silencing the old judges of the Supreme Court and restricting their initiative.  In exchange, it strengthens the position of President Manowska and the new judges. It also sanctions the principle of non-disclosure of cases in the Supreme Court. 

In response to a request to remove an unlawful judge from a bench, the Constitutional Tribunal decided that the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights concerning the Tribunal’s composition is of no legal significance.

In the Ipsos poll* for OKO.press, Poles were asked whether they think it is appropriate that people who until recently were PiS MPs, active in public life, are the Constitutional Tribunal judges. As many as 65% of the respondents said it was wrong, with as many as 49% saying it was “decidedly wrong”. Just 23% said it was normal practice.

The new NCJ, which is supposed to defend the independence of the courts, has itself attacked the court in Bydgoszcz for reinstating Judge Paweł Juszczyszyn. It has also attacked the judge’s lawyer, who is demanding that the First President of the Supreme Court enforce the ruling in Juszczyszyn’s case.

Independent Judge Piotr Gąciarek from Warsaw has been removed from adjudicating in important criminal cases. He will be assigned to a quieter division in the court. This is a demotion for him and a punishment for his bold speech in court in defence of the free courts. Ziobro’s disciplinary commissioner is also taking an interest in Gąciarek