Solidarna Polska expects the Prime Minister to meet us and guide us out of the new political situation related to the submission of a draft amendment to the Supreme Court law; we are ready to provide all reasonable support – said the head of the Ministry of Justice and the leader of the SP Zbigniew Ziobro.
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The draft amendment to the Supreme Court law was submitted to the Sejm by PiS deputies on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. According to the authors, the proposed regulations aim to achieve the key milestone set by the European Commission on FPO. Pursuant to the draft amendments to the Supreme Court Act, disciplinary and immunity cases of judges will be adjudicated by the Supreme Administrative Court. This means that the Supreme Court’s newly created Chamber of Professional Responsibility loses its power to adjudicate judges’ cases. The first reading of the draft was due to take place on Thursday afternoon, but shortly before PiS spokesman Rafał Bochenek announced that at the request of the head of the PiS club, the Sejm President has removed this draft from the agenda of the current meeting. He noted that “the subject requires thorough analysis and consultation, it should be talked about more.”
At a previous press conference at the Ministry of Justice, Ziobro announced that the Ministry of Justice and Solidarna Polska would not accept the draft amendment to the Supreme Court law in the form submitted by PiS. In his opinion, the proposed rules violate the constitution in many places and deeply affect Polish sovereignty.
“Disorganization, anarchism, rebellion…
As Ziobro said at Justice Ministry headquarters on Thursday, this amendment would also lead to “profound disorganization and anarchization of the Polish judiciary and the continuation of the uprising, which has unfortunately been going on for five years and is affecting the results.” . of the work of the Polish courts.”
According to Ziobro, Poland is trapped and blackmailed.
Because the draft law on the courts is not so much an expression of Prime Minister Morawiecki’s spontaneous will to rebuild Polish courts from time to time, but is the result of the necessity associated with the use of the brutal blackmail mechanism by the EU, by the European Commission
– He said.
The Ministry of Justice, and at the same time Solidarna Polska, could not and will not accept a draft written in consultation with Brussels that introduces fundamental changes in the field of the Polish judiciary
stressed Ziobro.
At the same time, the head of the Ministry of Justice stated that Solidarna Polska would like to help the Prime Minister “get out of this situation”, which – as he noted – “is much more difficult in light of the current position of the President”.
Even if we differed on fundamental issues regarding our attitude towards the EU, even if we still differ – because we believe that all the Prime Minister’s gestures will be treated as weaknesses and will give rise to further escalations, further demands from the European side, because there is simply bad will (…) – we are of course prepared to provide all reasonable support within the framework of our constitution and legal order to get out of this situation
stated the Minister of Justice.
“It’s no surprise that the president…
The head of the Justice Ministry recalled that President Andrzej Duda had clearly stated on Thursday that he did not agree to these changes, which would interfere with the scope of his constitutional powers and the status of the judges he appoints, and – as Ziobro pointed out – there are about 3,000 of them.
It’s hard to be surprised by the president because it’s his law
Ziobro conceded. He recalled that the Supreme Court law was passed in 2017 and its recent amendment was made in the President’s Chancellery, not the Justice Department.
The European Commission questions the reforms and laws prepared in the President’s Office or in an agreement between the President’s Office and the Prime Minister’s Office
Ziobro added.
The president just motivated and pointed out very clearly today that even the ECJ rulings are based on the final verdict and the last word of the president’s decision to appoint a judge. Meanwhile, this proposal from the European Commission also questions the line of case law on the matter and offers the possibility to challenge judges appointed by the Head of State to their task
said the head of MS.
Ziobro also pointed out that the prime minister took his responsibility two years ago by deciding to introduce EU conditionality mechanisms, which Solidarna Polska warned about.
“This is an invitation to chaos and anarchy.”
In turn, Deputy Justice Minister Sebastian Kaleta, justifying Solidarna Polska’s opposition to the planned change, argued that it “creates great risks for the functioning of our state and, above all, for compliance with the constitution”.
During a brief analysis, we found that the provisions proposed in this draft in many places directly contradict the Constitution, but indirectly contradict at least 11 Constitutional Court rulings on the status of judges, issued in the past 25 years
– He said.
As he noted, the subject of the regulation of the draft is the sphere of the judiciary, “which is not the competence of the EU – and yet on the Sejm website the draft is marked EU, which in itself indicates that it is to implement EU law, in a situation where the Union has no such powers”.
Kaleta ruled that the adoption of the law poses a risk to the stability of the functioning of the judicial system in Poland.
It allows any judge to undermine the president’s prerogative in such a way that each judge has the ex officio right to review the status of another judge. (…) Due to the fact that this test (the proposed Comprehensive Test of Judges’ Impartiality – PAP) removes restrictions on a judge’s status in general – that is, once a judge is found to be a non-judge, it affects all judgments issued by him. We are not talking about individual cases here, we are talking about 10 million judgments
– He said.
This is an invitation to chaos and anarchy; as we know, many judges in recent years have shown that they hide political ambitions under their robes. (…) There is a chance that legal certainty in Poland will simply collapse
– reviewed the deputy head of MS.
On Thursday morning, President Andrzej Duda stated that he had not participated in the preparation of the draft for the Supreme Court nor had he been consulted. He called for peaceful and constructive parliamentary work on the bill while not agreeing to solutions that would undermine the constitutional system.
In addition to transferring the disciplinary rules from judges to the Supreme Administrative Court, the draft also provides for fundamental changes with regard to the so-called review of the independence and impartiality of the judge. This is a new institution introduced this summer by the presidential amendment to the Supreme Court law. It is intended to enable the examination of whether a judge meets the requirements of independence and impartiality, taking into account the circumstances surrounding his appointment and his conduct after his appointment, if in the circumstances of a particular case these could lead to a violation of the independence or standard of impartiality affecting the outcome of the case.
Currently, the request can be made by a party to the proceedings that is led by a particular judge. Under the proposed amendments, the judge’s impartiality test can be initiated not only by the litigant, but also “ex officio” by the court itself. The draft also supplements the possibility of examining the requirements of independence and impartiality during the “test” with the premise of appointing a judge “under the law”.
kk/PAP
Source: wPolityce