The old Supreme Court challenged the legality of the neo-judges in the Supreme Court. This is another such ruling issued despite the prohibition to examine their status. This ruling shows that the old Supreme Court judges will continue to apply the judgments of the ECtHR and the CJEU.

‘This is a show of contempt for the work we do. The authorities are proving that they can do anything they like with a judge,’ commented Judge Marzanna Piekarska-Drążek of the Court of Appeal in Warsaw in an interview with Onet on the decision to move her to the labour and social insurance division after 30 years of adjudicating in the criminal division. On Monday, after returning from her holiday, she found out that she is to work in a completely different place from next week.

President Andrzej Duda attacked the organizations of judges for challenging the Polish National Recovery Plan before the CJEU. According to the President, judges want to govern. However, Duda does not understand how the separation of powers works and does not know that judges can protest and express their opinions. 

Piotr Schab, president of the Court of Appeal in Warsaw, confirmed that the transfer of two judges to different divisions is a penalty for applying judgments of the ECtHR and the CJEU. Schab and his deputy, Radzik, will face criminal liability in the future for the repressions.

Professor Wojciech Sadurski, a constitutionalist, proposes his concept for repairing the Constitutional Tribunal.  ‘The current Constitutional Tribunal is one hundred percent illegitimate,’ he argues. And explains why he thinks so, and how to remedy this if the opposition wins the elections.

‘We have really demonstrated maximum goodwill. From the point of view of the treaties, we are under no obligation to listen to the Union on the justice system. None whatsoever,’ said Jarosław Kaczyński, when asked about the ‘milestones’ in the National Recovery Plan during a successive pre-election meeting.

A motion has been filed with the Constitutional Tribunal to punish retired Judge Wojciech Hermeliński for allegedly breaching the principles of judicial ethics. We look at statements made by the current judges of the Constitutional Tribunal in terms of their ‘apolitical nature’ and ‘good practices’

Mateusz Morawiecki’s government will not publicize who exactly will receive money from the EU Recovery Fund. EU regulations enable it to do this, as they do not prevent embezzlement. In Poland’s case, this applies to more than 164 billion zlotys

Michał Dworczyk discussed the forthcoming decisions of the Constitutional Tribunal with Julia Przyłębska – as arises from the e-mails posted on Poufna Rozmowa. The head of the Prime Minister’s Chancellery reported on his discussion with the president of the Constitutional Tribunal in e-mails to Mateusz Morawiecki.

If you are a Polish judge and you intend to apply European standards on judicial independence, think twice. You are facing suspension, as well as disciplinary and criminal proceedings. Either the end of your career or, at best, a long and unpleasant break. This is the situation in Poland, a European Union Member State, at the dawn of the 21st century.