“President Andrzej Duda strongly counts on the passing of the Law on Justices of the Peace; is an institution that the judiciary needs and that can have very positive effects for citizens, such as shortening procedures,” Małgorzata Paprocka, minister of the KPRP, told PAP.
Presidential Initiative on Justices of the Peace
At the beginning of November 2021, President Andrzej Duda submitted two drafts to the Sejm, based on the establishment of the Institute of Justices of the Peace in Poland: a draft law on Justices of the Peace and a law with preliminary provisions. The projects have been prepared as a result of the work of the team led by Prof. Piotr Kruszyński, who started working after talks between Kukiz’15 leader Paweł Kukiz and President Duda. Justices of the peace would deal with the simplest cases, and judges elected by universal suffrage would rule on them.
Projects stopped at the Commission
At the end of March this year – after several months of work – the Sejm subcommittee formally supported two bills to create justices of the peace. Numerous corrections were made to the drafts and a significant part of the planned provisions were reformulated. The projects were then sent to the Parliament’s Committee on Justice and Human Rights, which, however, halted work. Delegates will reconsider these provisions after additional advice is prepared by the Sejm Research Bureau.
PAP asked Presidential Minister Małgorzata Paprocka if in her opinion it would be possible to pass the law during this term.
I strongly believe it will work. The president counts heavily on the adoption of this law, because the institution of justices of the peace is necessary for the judiciary and can certainly send a positive message to citizens in the form of shortening the procedure, more informal procedure, aimed at resolve the case through mediation
– she said.
She stressed that the president’s chancery is very active in the legislative work on the drafts, but – as she noted – the host of the drafts is currently “only and exclusively parliament”.
After completion of the work of the subcommittee, a report on both projects was prepared. The report was to be examined and considered at a committee meeting, but at this stage – after more than 16 months of work on this project – motions for opinion were submitted to the Sejm Research Bureau. The Commission has accepted this proposal and we await the resumption of this work
said Paprocka.
More than 40 design solutions
In the parliamentary phase, almost 40 amendments were tabled to the drafts on justices of the peace. Both laws, they said, would come into force in mid-October 2023, but the first term of office of justices of the peace would start from early 2025. The amendments also include shortening the terms of office of justices of the peace from six to five years. As the chairman of the subcommittee dealing with the projects – Kazimierz Smoliński (PiS) – said earlier in an interview with PAP – the idea is to align the term of office of justices of the peace with the term of office of the European elections, so that the elections for judges together with those for the EP.
Paprocka stressed that indeed “this is the logic of the Members requesting these amendments – that is, combining the election of justices of the peace with the elections to the European Parliament.”
The President’s Chancellery was not opposed to these changes. This is part of the discussion and debate on how to implement this institution
said Paprocka. At the same time, she pointed out that “the most important thing is the adoption of the law, because according to the preliminary provisions it will also be necessary to select a lawyer who will prepare the entire network of courts within the structure of the Ministry of Justice.”
You definitely need a few months for that
she stressed.
The position of the Minister of Justice
Paprocka, when asked about Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro’s critical attitude towards the justices of the peace projects, noted that “Minister Ziobro spoke very positively about the establishment of justices of the peace a few months ago (…) at press conferences, announced he put forward his own project, which was never carried out before parliament.”
It should also be noted that a representative of the Minister of Justice participates in the work of the committee and no specific amendments have been proposed by the Ministry
– she said, pointing out that “where possible” the ministry’s suggestions were accepted and introduced into the project.
It is difficult to understand such criticism of the presidential project, if you yourself previously supported this idea or even announced its introduction into the legal system
said Paprocka.
In March, referring to the presidential projects on justices of the peace, Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro assured that Solidarna Polska is an environment “responsible for the professional functioning of the judiciary”. “We will never support such projects, which we believe are destructive to the Polish judiciary,” the SP leader said at the time.
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rm/PAP
Source: wPolityce