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ECJ on Poland's judicial reform: not responsible

2020-03-26T12:27:35.117Z


Reform after reform, the PiS government in Warsaw is transforming the Polish judicial system. The EU Commission recently warned of "destroying" the judiciary. The CJEU does not specify itself in a specific case.


Reform after reform, the PiS government in Warsaw is transforming the Polish judicial system. The EU Commission recently warned of "destroying" the judiciary. The CJEU does not specify itself in a specific case.

Luxembourg (dpa) - In the dispute over the judicial reform in Poland, Polish judges before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) suffered a setback.

For formal reasons, the Luxembourg judges did not want to decide on the Polish disciplinary proceedings on Thursday. On one point, however, they backed the Polish judges (Cases C-558/18 and C-563/18).

Despite the international criticism, the national-conservative PiS government has been restructuring the country's judicial system for years, putting judges under pressure. The reforms have landed several times before the European Court of Justice. The background to the current proceedings are the regulations for disciplinary proceedings against judges introduced in 2017. In two court cases, Polish courts expressed concern that their judgments could result in disciplinary proceedings against the judge.

They pointed out that the Minister of Justice had influenced the initiation and implementation of the proceedings through the reform. In this way, disciplinary jurisdiction could become a tool to remove unpopular people. In addition, judges might feel compelled to obey in advance.

The Luxembourg Court of Justice now found the requests of both courts to be invalid for formal reasons and therefore did not rule on the legality of the reform. There is no link between EU law to which the courts refer and the procedures they negotiate. Therefore, the interpretation of European law for the respective judgments is not necessary. It is unusual that the CJEU nevertheless stressed that national judges could not face disciplinary proceedings because they had called the CJEU.

MEP Katarina Barley (SPD) emphasized on Thursday that this judgment should not be seen as approval for the course of the PiS. The court only ruled that it was not competent. "It is important that the CJEU has made it clear that no judge can face punishment for calling the European Court of Justice." This is exactly what the PiS government wants to punish with its latest law from the beginning of the year.

Christian Wigand, spokesman for the EU Commission said that the judgment was noted. He emphasized that the decision had no impact on the ongoing proceedings before the CJEU, which the Brussels authorities initiated with their lawsuit in October 2019. This concerns the new rules for disciplinary measures, which the Commission believes undermine the judges' independence.

In the past, the ECJ has intervened several times because of the Polish reforms. In 2019, for example, the court ruled that the forced retirement of Polish judges at the Supreme Court and ordinary courts violated EU law.

Another law on discipline of judges, signed by Polish President Andrzej Duda in early February, is heavily criticized. The EU Commission could take action here shortly. The responsible EU Commissioner Vera Jourova warned in February of the "destruction" of the Polish judiciary. And already in 2017, the EU Commission initiated a legal process against Poland under Article 7 of the EU treaties. This means that a country's voting rights in the Council of Ministers can be withdrawn in the event of violations of EU fundamental rights. However, the process stalled.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-03-26

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