Rights and Values Programme (RVP) fill gaps in the EU’s instruments for protecting the rule of law. Member states must not to be tempted to trade this strategic issue for other, more immediate gains.

Polish judges are again showing the government and the small number of collaborator judges that they will not be broken or be intimidated by disciplinary proceedings.

According to the Court of Justice’s Advocate General, Poland failed to guarantee effective legal protection by lowering the retirement age of Supreme Court judges and granting the President the discretion to prolong their mandate. The AG opinion is not binding on the ECJ, but the bench usually follows its conclusions.

Polish authorities demand that the European Commission withdraw its complaint since the contested provisions are no longer in force.

The European Commission has launched a reflection process on the rule of law in the EU and setting out possible avenues for future action. It outlined three pillars which could contribute to further the effective enforcement of the rule of law in the Union: better promotion, early prevention and tailored reposnse

Through a reorganization of existing courts and the establishment of new ones, the Ministry of Justice will achieve total control over the entirety of the justice system. The reorganization will put all judges under a microscope and facilitate a far-ranging purge of the courts. There may not be enough places for independent-minded judges in the “new” courts, or perhaps they will be exiled someplace far away from their present posts.

Polish constitutional court delivered a ruling concerning the National Council of the Judiciary. The judgement might be crucial for the preliminary reference proceedings pending before the Court of Justice of the EU.

The Court opened – through the second subparagraph of Article 19(1) TEU – of the possibility to apply Article 47 of the Charter

The assertion presented by the media, that the sole objective of the so-called ‘great reform of the justice system’ lies in a one-off replacement of judicial personnel with a view to replace the key judicial office holders by those subordinated to the Minister of Justice is an overlyoptimistic simplification of matters. The authors of the ‘reform of the justice system’ were far more ambitious.

In the last few months, the use of the new disciplinary procedures has become increasingly bald-faced. Increasingly, the authorities do not appear to be ashamed of their real motives, which are unabashedly political’ – writes prof. Piotr Mikuli at I-CONNECT.