2023-06-05 15:07:00
The background is a lawsuit by the EU Commission from 2021, according to which several Polish regulations violate EU law.
Poland has been in a dispute with the EU about the independence and privacy of judges before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) suffered a final defeat. According to a judgment announced on Monday, provisions of Poland’s 2019 judicial reform violate EU law. The judgment from Luxembourg could also have an impact on a penalty payment previously imposed in the summary proceedings.
The background is a lawsuit by the EU Commission from 2021, according to which several Polish regulations violate EU law. As the guardian of the EU treaties, the Commission is responsible for monitoring that countries comply with EU law. She repeatedly sues Germany before the ECJ to enforce compliance with EU law.
Independence and impartiality not guaranteed
The current dispute involved, among other things, a law on the disciplining of judges. The ECJ has now made it clear: the Polish rules do not guarantee access to an independent and impartial court. This means that the national courts can check whether they themselves or other courts meet the requirements laid down in EU law.
The judges listed several points from the right-wing national governing party PiS implemented reform as damaging the independence of the judiciary and thus as undermining the law. “The Polish judicial reform of December 2019 violates EU law,” the court found. “The values of the rule of law are an integral part of the identity of the European Union.” The EU Commission has already withheld billions of euros in funding for Poland due to violations of the rule of law. The government in Warsaw rejects the accusation.
PiS feels headwind from the opposition
The PiS has governed the country since 2015, and the next parliamentary elections are scheduled for October or November. Hundreds of thousands demonstrated against the government in Warsaw on Sunday. Government critics from all over the country traveled to the capital to mark the 34th anniversary of Poland’s first post-war democratic elections. The liberal opposition had declared the rally to be a test of whether the PiS can be voted out of office this year after almost eight years in government.
Poland’s national-conservative government has been restructuring the judiciary there for years, despite international criticism. The EU Commission has complained several times about the reforms. Some decisions were overturned by the ECJ.
Because Warsaw refused to implement earlier ECJ rulings, the court finally imposed a fine of one million euros per day within the now decided proceedings. The sentence was halved in the spring because the government has now made some changes to the justice system.
From the EU’s point of view, however, this is not enough. Further proceedings are already foreseeable: In February, the EU Commission again sued Poland for violations of EU law by the Polish Constitutional Court. The procedures are delicate for Warsaw, because a lot of money is now at stake: the EU Commission is holding back several billion euros from the Corona development fund for Poland because it has doubts about the judicial system there.
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