The ruling came in a case concerning the dismissal of a judge and amid a row over disciplinary measures for Polish judges that took effect last year as part of sweeping changes to the country’s judicial system.
The new-look National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) “is not an impartial or independent body,” while the Disciplinary Chamber within the Supreme Court “is not a court under EU and national law,” Justice Piotr Prusinowski said in a ruling that drew national attention.
The National Council of the Judiciary is a powerful body tasked with selecting judges, including for the disciplinary chamber.
The ruling delivered by a judging panel led by Prusinowski came after the Court of Justice of the European Union last month said that it was up to Poland’s highest court to resolve concerns over the new disciplinary chamber within it.
That judgment by the top EU court came in response to queries from Poland’s Supreme Court, which had expressed doubts over the independence of the new National Council of the Judiciary and the Disciplinary Chamber elected by it.
The Polish government spokesman said in a comment at the time that the Court of Justice of the European Union “did not have jurisdiction to rule on national justice systems."
Judicial overhaul
Poland’s president in December 2017 signed into effect two contested laws to reshape the country's judicial system, part of a wider package of sweeping legal changes that have met with criticism from opponents and set Warsaw on a collision course with Brussels.
The two laws reshaped the country’s Supreme Court and reorganised the influential National Council of the Judiciary, which nominates new judges and is tasked with safeguarding the independence of courts.
The country’s ruling majority, of which President Andrzej Duda is an ally, has hailed the new regulations as a vital reform of what it says is Poland’s inefficient and sometimes corrupt justice system.
But the opposition has castigated the changes as unconstitutional and claimed the governing conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party was seeking to pack the Supreme Court and the KRS judicial panel with loyalists.
More powers for lawmakers
Under the regulations greenlighted by Duda at the time, an autonomous disciplinary chamber was created within the Supreme Court that is in part staffed by lay members elected by the upper house of parliament.
In another key change to previous rules, the lower house of parliament was given the power to elect the bulk of the KRS judicial panel's 25 members. Previously this right was chiefly enjoyed by the judges themselves.
Poland's Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said in April this year that new Polish measures to discipline judges were designed to fight "pathological" behaviour and were less political than those in neighbouring Germany.
Ziobro also said at the time that the new disciplinary chamber in Poland’s Supreme Court had been established to deal with lapses among judges, including cases of theft.
He added that previous procedures were inadequate to discipline such judges.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in 2017 that his country’s judicial system was “deeply flawed” and that his ruling conservatives were elected with a mandate to overhaul it.
(gs/pk)
Source: PAP, IAR, TVN24