Tag: European Commission

Adam Bodnar presented a plan to the European Commission for fixing the justice system after the PiS government. This is a package of 10 acts, which are intended to help end the disputes with Brussels, unblock the billions for the NRRP and truly reform the courts and the prosecution service. We have the details.

The European Commission is accusing Poland that the Constitutional Tribunal is breaching the legal order of the European Union and the rights of EU citizens with its rulings. The Commission is also contesting the choice of the ‘stand-ins’ and Julia Przyłębska as President of the Constitutional Tribunal. That is why it is referring the case to the EU Court of Justice. What happens next? Our explainer.

PiS is making concessions to the EC. It will pass the disciplining of judges over to the Supreme Administrative Court and restrict the Muzzle Act. But this is another ostentatious change, because it leaves the illegal National Council for Judiciary and the neo-judges who are the source of the problems with the rule of law. The administrative judges are protesting against the changes.

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. 

‘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.

Polish and international civil society organisations write to the President of the Commission and the commissioners responsible for the Rule of Law, requesting an infringement action as regards the National Council of the Judiciary

“As a coalition of legal and human rights associations operating in the area of the protection of human rights, associating, among others, the most important associations of judges in Poland, we are writing to you about the implementation of the rulings of the EU Court of Justice by the Polish authorities in the context of the negotiations on the approval of the Polish National Recovery Plan (NRP) and the conditions for subsequent disbursements from the Reconstruction Fund.”

The European Commission is to decide whether to unfreeze billions for Poland from the EU’s Reconstruction Fund. It should not ‘buy’ President Duda’s or the Law and Justice party’s (PiS’s) offer. It needs to demand the full restoration of the rule of law. Otherwise, it will condemn the courts to ultimate destruction, reward ‘sly judges’ and antagonise the judicial community.

‘The authorities will try to use the carrot-and-stick method: a stick for those judges who are fighting for the rule of law, and a carrot for those they try to persuade over to them,’ believes Judge Waldemar Żurek. We discuss scenarios of further changes in courts and judges’ reactions to them

Justice Defense Committee KOS: the letter to the European Commission of 19 May 2021