Tag: CJEU

We publish in full the speech made on 22 September 2020 by Sylwia Gregorczyk-Abram and Michał Wawrykiewicz, attorneys-at-law representing judge Waldemar Żurek before the Court of Justice of the EU in C-487/19 case regarding the Supreme Court’s request for a preliminary ruling. 

The CJEU has ruled that the Disciplinary Chamber of the Polish Supreme Court may not conduct disciplinary proceedings against judges or refer them to courts which do not meet the criterion of independence under Union law. The ruling is in force until the CJEU renders final judgment on the European Commission’s complaint against the Polish government. The judgment will be handed down in the second half of 2020.

 At the beginning of April, the CJEU will consider the European Commission’s request to suspend the Polish Supreme Court’s Disciplinary Chamber. The Grand Chamber is aware of and concerned about the situation of judges subjected to harassment via disciplinary proceedings, as well as the threats of even harsher repressions in the “Muzzle Law.” In addition, the CJEU will respond to a number of preliminary questions submitted by Polish courts.

Prof. Koen Lenaerts, President of the Court of Justice of the European Union, explains why mutual trust and judicial independence are of fundamental importance to the EU Member States 

The Minister of Justice feels that the opinion of the Advocate General of the EU Court of Justice Evgeni Tanchev is incompatible with EU law and constitutes a “defence of pathology in the Polish judiciary.” If the CJEU concurs with the Advocate General’s opinion, following the judgment Poland will have to select a new National Council of the Judiciary. Changes will also be necessary in other EU Member States.

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

In the report published on 20 March 2019 by the Stefan Batory Foundation in cooperation with the European Stability Initiative, the two organisations discuss the state of rule of law in Poland. The authors argue that the EU should use its most effective tool to defend the rule of law and lodge another complaint to the Court of Justice of the EU