Tag: Court of Justice

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 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.

Frans Timmermans spoke with journalists on Tuesday, 19 February 2019, just prior to another debate in the General Affairs Council of the EU over breach of rule of law within the Article 7 TEU procedure initiated against Poland. This was the first meeting of the Council since the Polish government presented its report on 11 December 2018

Provisions subordinating the judiciary to the executive (including disciplinary proceedings against judges), which are completely incompatible with European standards, are still in place.

The Supreme Court has not been the sole judicial institution under attack by the ruling majority. Since November 2015 the PiS has been increasing political control over other key bodies of the system, including the Constitutional Tribunal, the prosecution, the National Council of Judiciary, and ordinary courts.

The new Supreme Court Act came into effect on 1 January – the Supreme Court judges previously forced to retire are coming back to work. PiS ultimately gave up despite stalling for time until the last moment. Yet the fight for the rule of law continues, and Brussels has no plans to quit. In 2019, the Court of Justice will rule on the politicisation of the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS)

Judge Stanisław Zabłocki, President of the Supreme Court and chairman of the Criminal Chamber, has announced his retirement in conjunction with recent modifications to the court’s rules that force heads of chambers to assign cases to appointees whose status is presently being questioned before the European Court of Justice.

According to the latest poll, majority of Poles believe that the Court of Justice of the EU is entitled to stop Law and Justice’s judiciary reform if it concludes that the EU rules have been violated. The Polish people widely support firm actions by the Court against the right-wing government