Are Amendments to the Supreme Court President’s Draft Enough? There is a three-way vote. “Basic assumptions have been made”

From Andrzej Duda’s point of view, the tenets of the Supreme Court’s draft presidential amendment – ie the liquidation of the Disciplinary Chamber and the review of judges’ independence – were maintained; we will observe the continuation of the legislative work, the head of the cabinet of the president, Paweł Szrot, told PAP. The version of the draft amendments to the Supreme Court provisions adopted by the parliamentary committee should not be adapted to the main assumptions, the deputy head of the Ministry of Justice, Sebastian Kaleta, ruled. The head of the parliamentary committee, Marek Ast (PiS), believes that – although changes are still possible – the current version of the concept is good.

The chairman comments on the amendments to the draft on SN

The parliamentary committee on justice on Thursday recommended a presidential draft amendment to the Supreme Court law. The draft maintained the principles of the filing, but one of the articles related to the possibility of conducting an “impartiality and independence test” with regard to judges in judgments already issued was deleted from the main amendments – such an amendment was submitted by Solidarna Polska. A preamble has also been added to the project. The draft now moves to second reading, which is scheduled for the next Sejm meeting next week.

President Andrzej Duda replied at Friday’s press conference about the changes made to the draft: “I know that the committee has accepted this draft, I know that it has accepted it positively, I know that there are some changes, but in my personal opinion, these are not changes that would disrupt this project.”

†Given the above, I think that if it is passed by Parliament in this form it will certainly be such a very serious point for consideration. I hope it will positively dispel the doubts that have so far existed within the European Commission and the European institution”

– noted the president.

President: These are not changes that would disrupt this project. This will be an important element to consider

†The principles have been adhered to”

Also the head of the cabinet of the president, Paweł Szrot, emphasized in an interview with PAP that “from the point of view of the president, the most important thing is that the basic assumptions that were in his draft, in his submission – that is, the liquidation of the Disciplinary Chamber and its replacement with another verification body and a test independency – have been retained”.

Szrot also recalled that legislative work on the design has not yet been completed.

Amendments may still be tabled at second reading and we will monitor this closely. We hope the bill is passed in the form the President deferred, with some minor changes, of course

– he pointed out.

Asked about the fact that the provisions of the so-called The Independence Test had been aborted, he replied: “We’ll analyze that further later.”

At this point, we estimate that the principles that guided the President when he introduced this bill have been preserved

– he stressed at the same time.

According to one of the amendments adopted on Thursday, proposed by Solidarna Polska, an extensive article has been deleted, which contained a procedure for possible verification of judgments already passed. The so-called independence test continued with regard to unfinished business.

Solidarna Polska’s preamble was added to the design during the committee’s Thursday meeting. “(…) taking into account the established, unified and indisputable position of the Constitutional Court, confirming the supremacy of the norms of the Constitution (…) over those established by international organizations, including the EU treaties, which act to protect the democratic constitutional state, sovereignty and stability of the Polish system, invalidity of exclusive powers constitutional bodies of public authority and respect for the role of the nation deriving from the provisions of the constitution, we take the following law,” reads the preamble.

Referring to its content, the presidential minister emphasized that in the Polish legal system, the preamble is not prescriptive in nature and does not affect the content of the provisions.

It sometimes helps with the interpretation and I think this is what I fear we will have to clarify with our partner from the EU

– he said.

But I repeat – the preamble has no normative content

– noted the minister in the KPRP. When asked what – in his opinion – the European Commission could object to the preamble, he replied that “these discussions are being conducted by the government”.

Statements have been made, I think the form in which this law could possibly be passed should correspond to these provisions

– he pointed out

Kaleta and Ast commentary

I welcome the convergence of positions between the President and the Minister of Justice and that Solidarna Polska has refrained from removing the test of independence and impartiality of judges from the presidential presentation. Only provisions have been put in place to seal this mechanism, so this is good news

– Marek Ast (PiS), head of the parliamentary committee, told PAP.

As for the project itself, the chairman of the parliamentary committee on justice added, it appears that the Supreme Court Disciplinary Chamber will be liquidated. According to him, this meets the expectations of the European Commission.

In turn, Kaleta (Solidarna Polska) said in an interview with PAP that his groups had a different concept of the functioning of the Supreme Court, but “taking into account the current international situation, we have agreed to this compromise in a spirit of loyalty” .

The adoption of this law will be a test for the EU. Poland has shown that it wants to build confidence, but now the EU has to withdraw money that has been illegally blocked for a long time

– he pointed out.

Kaleta emphasized that the amendments of the SP on the main elements of this draft were taken into account during the committee meeting.

First, it is about specifying the principles of the judge’s independence test, with a view to ensuring that it will be an individual instrument for a specific case, and not a test of a judge’s overall status. It was also possible to make changes to improve the recognition of these requests in courts

– he said.

However, Ast pointed out that the amendment that “introduces a count of judges’ lack of responsibility for the content of court decisions is also ultimately included in the draft”.

This shows that this will for compromise on the part of both the Chancellery of the President and Solidarna Polska

– rated the PiS politician.

I think this is a good project. It will probably be corrected somewhat at second reading, but in the end it seems that it should satisfy both the European Commission and the President, and Solidarna Polska

– noted Ast.

When asked about possible further amendments to the draft, the committee chair pointed out that Solidarna Polska had reservations about the amendments to the draft previously considered, so probably – as he added – amendments will be tabled at second reading. Law and order changes are also possible. Ast, however, expressed his belief that the bill should be passed next week.

The version adopted by the committee in its main assumptions is the version that should not be corrected

Kaleta said. As he noted, “we are pleased that we have been able to implement the changes we discussed during this several-week debate.”

The deputy minister added that after the Supreme Court provisions are approved, the Supreme Court provisions will be sent to the Senate.

It is clear that the opposition, who talks so much about the need to obtain EU funds and the need to liquidate the Disciplinary Chamber, must see these provisions as urgent. Working in the Senate will also show the intentions of the opposition

Kaleta noted.

Presidential project, Disciplinary Chamber and KPO

The President’s draft provides for the liquidation of the Supreme Court Disciplinary Chamber; judges who rule therein would have the choice of moving to another chamber or retiring. A Chamber of Professional Responsibility would be established in the Supreme Court. Of all the judges of the Supreme Court, with the exception of e.g. the presidents of the chambers of the Supreme Court, 33 people are randomly selected, among whom the president must choose 11 judges for the composition of the Chamber of Professional Indemnity for a term of office of five years . The draft also provides for the establishment of “a test of the impartiality and independence of a judge”. This last solution was criticized by Solidarna Polska from the start.

The need for changes to the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court is related to the fact that in the summer of 2021 the Court of Justice of the EU obliged Poland to immediately suspend the application of the provisions regarding the Disciplinary Chamber’s powers in cases such as waiver of the immunity of judges. For non-compliance with this decision, the CJEU has fined Poland EUR 1 million per day.

The European Commission has still not approved the National Reconstruction Plan, which was submitted by the government more than a year ago, namely a document describing the way resources from the Reconstruction Fund are spent. EC spokeswoman Veerle Nuyts told PAP on May 11 that the Polish KPO must make commitments to: liquidate the Supreme Court Disciplinary Chamber, reform the disciplinary system, reinstate illegally dismissed judges.

Government spokesman Piotr Müller, who was asked about the KPO on Wednesday, said the negotiating teams from Poland and Brussels “agreed on the issue of milestones”, i.e. the content of reforms to be introduced. We need to implement these reforms by the end of the quarter, ie end of June. Later, as in the procedure, the European Commission assesses the implementation of reforms in all countries in the FPA in July and August and pays the installments in September. This is the EC’s program of activities in this area,” he said. As he added, the precondition for the payment of EU funds is the achievement of milestones.

As part of the Reconstruction Fund from the Cohesion Policy budget for 2021-2027, Poland has approximately EUR 76 billion at its disposal. In the KPO, which should support the economy after the pandemic, Poland is requesting 23.9 billion euros available in grants and 11.5 billion euros for the loan part.

kpc / PAP