I hope the Constitutional Tribunal will consider the law on the Supreme Court in a month or two, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said. As he added, in the position submitted to the Constitutional Court, the government argues that the law on the Supreme Court is constitutional.
At the press conference after the meeting of the Council of Ministers, Morawiecki was asked when he expects the date of the hearing before the Constitutional Tribunal on the law on the Supreme Court and whether he has any guarantee that if the law is constitutional, funds from the National Reconstruction Plan will flow to Poland.
The date of the hearing depends solely on the Constitutional Court
replied the prime minister.
I hope that this matter will be taken up within a month or two
– added.
What will be the verdict of the Constitutional Court? I have no idea, but we have presented our government’s position and – as far as I know the Sejm is presenting this position verbatim today or tomorrow, it will be presented to the Constitutional Tribunal – and it is unambiguous in the sense that it of the provisions of the law with the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, but not for us to decide in the end
– added.
Morawiecki also pointed out that during the meeting of the LIBE Committee (European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs), EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders assured that the law on the Supreme Court meets expectations from the European Commission, but the certainty of whether the money will be paid to Poland will depend on what they had when the first application was submitted.
I hope there are no more reasons to block
said the head of the Polish government.
During the conference, the prime minister was asked if, in his opinion, “the people of Zbigniew Ziobro or himself could be behind the fact that the Constitutional Tribunal cannot or will not consider amending the Supreme Court law”.
I think this is a matter of the kind of political and personal speculation, which is rather unwarranted. I have no knowledge of this case and I am convinced that the judges of the Constitutional Court take decisions in a completely independent manner
emphasized the head of government.
And I hope that regardless of whether anyone is against or for this bill, they will start analyzing this bill sent by the president to the Constitutional Tribunal and make decisions as soon as possible.
said the prime minister.
This uncertainty and suspension also hurts us a lot and that’s why I’m only calling for it to happen as soon as possible, but of course I have no influence on that.
said the head of government.
Commenting that “the composition of the Tribunal is known and what the past is of the people sitting there today” and that there is a dispute within the Constitutional Tribunal, which may be politically motivated, the Prime Minister replied that it was “a bit as with the commissioners of the European Commission and so it is with the judges of the Tribunal, regardless of who has what past, when entering a particular institution, he puts on a “new hat” and makes decisions in an objective manner in accordance with applicable regulations, he noted.
The amendment to the Supreme Court Act, passed in January by PiS, is intended – according to the authors – to fulfill an important “milestone” for the European Commission to release funds from the National Reconstruction Plan. But on February 10 – after the bill was on the president’s desk – Andrzej Duda announced that he had decided to submit the amendment to the Constitutional Tribunal, under the preventive scrutiny procedure. At the same time, he appealed to the judges of the Constitutional Court to deal with the case immediately.
The application published by President Duda to the Constitutional Tribunal a few days later questioned the basic provisions of the Supreme Court amendment, including those on the so-called test of the independence of the judge and on the transfer of disciplinary and immunity cases of Supreme Administrative Court judges, as well as the vacatio legis of the amendment set for 21 days.
The prime minister’s comprehensive statement of nearly 100 pages – the first of the written views to be submitted in this case – appeared on the Constitutional Tribunal’s website. The document is dated March 24 this year.
Positions on the case must be presented by the Attorney General and the Sejm. The Constitutional Tribunal has not yet set a date for examining this case. The Tribunal should deal fully with the President’s request. At least 11 judges of the Constitutional Court are required to convene a full court hearing.
gah/PAP
Source: wPolityce