2017-07-13
Analysis 10/2017: Another attack of PiS on the independence of the judiciary: changes in the National Council of the Judiciary and the court system
- On 12 July 2017, Poland’s Parliament, with the votes from PiS (Law and Order) and "Free and Solidary” Parliamentary Club, passed two bills that subordinates the National Council of the Judiciary to political authorities and drastically widens the powers of the justice minister over common courts to a level not seen in Europe.
- These changes are in violation of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland (especially Articles 2, 7-8, 10, 173, 178-180, 186 (1) and 187) and international standards established by the Council of Europe, as well as the Copenhagen criteria, the fulfillment of which allowed Poland to become a member of the European Union.
- The implementation of these changes means the restoration of the rule of unity of the powers of the state, enforced in the Communist era, ie the destruction of separation of powers, an essential component of the rule of law.
- The adopted solutions are another attack - after the takeover of the Constitutional Court, the prosecutor's office and the civil service - on the rule of law. The next, glaringly drastic breach of the rule of law, will be the adoption of a new law on the Supreme Court, a draft of which was submitted to the Sejm by 49 PiS deputies just a few hours after the adoption of the discussed bill, under cover of the night.
- Proposals included in bill on the National Council of the Judiciary subordinate it to political authorities to a degree that is unprecedented in the European Union, and will allow politicians to nominate candidates for judges and thereby fill the posts in the judiciary.
- The amendment of the Law on the Common Courts System granted the Minister of Justice full power to appoint and dismiss presidents and vice-presidents of courts of all levels.
- The selection of the judicial part of the Council by the ruling majority and shortening of the terms of the current members of the National Council of the Judiciary are incompatible with unequivocal provisions of the Polish Constitution concerning the composition and constitution of the National Council of the Judiciary.
- From now on, the Minister of Justice will have power to retire a judge who reached retirement age even though he is willing to remain in office and is able to adjudicate.
- In the course of legislative work, deputies have introduced an amendment that makes it possible to carry out a "purge" in the Office of the National Council of the Judiciary, ie to dismiss all its employees without any substantive evaluation of their work.
- As PiS has taken over the Constitutional Tribunal, this body will not be able to control the legislation that subordinates the National Council of the Judiciary to politicians and introduces full supremacy of the Minister of Justice over common courts.
Full analysis by FOR (in Polish) aviliable here.
You are welcome to contact our expert:
Patryk Wachowiec - Legal analyst of FOR, President of the Center for Analysis and Development Center
patryk.wachowiec@for.org.pl
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