The EU’s top court on Monday sided with the bloc’s executive Commission and ruled that the Polish judicial reform, enacted on December 20, 2019, violates EU law, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The reform, overseen by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, amended national rules relating to the organisation of the ordinary courts, the administrative courts and the Supreme Court, according to officials.
The CJEU listed several elements of Poland’s judicial reform that it said were damaging the independence of judges, and hence undermining the rule of law, according to the Reuters news agency.
The CJEU said in a statement: “The Polish justice reform of December 2019 infringes EU law. The value of the rule of law is an integral part of the very identity of the European Union.”
‘CJEU overstepped its powers’: Polish gov’t spokesman
Commenting on the CJEU’s verdict, Polish government spokesman Piotr Müller said it would “close the matter when it comes to accrual of the daily penalties,” public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
In October 2021, the CJEU ordered Poland to pay the European Commission a daily fine of EUR 1 million for not suspending the application of the 2019 justice reform regarding the powers of the now-defunct Disciplinary Chamber of Poland’s Supreme Court with respect to judges, the PAP news agency reported.
Müller noted that the CJEU had recently halved the daily penalty to EUR 500,000.
The Polish government spokesman added on Monday that ”a disciplinary regime for judges, designed in a good way, is indispensable” in efforts to tackle abuses of the justice system.
The disciplinary regime for judges was one of the aspects of Poland’s justice reforms judged by the CJEU to infringe EU law, according to officials.
Müller reiterated Poland’s position that “the justice system is the prerogative of EU member states,” the IAR news agency reported.
"The CJEU has overstepped its powers," the government spokesman stated, as quoted by Polish Radio's polskieradio24.pl website.
CJEU ruling is ‘a blatant violation’ of EU law: Polish justice minister
Meanwhile, Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said that the CJEU’s verdict represented “a blatant violation of EU treaties,” the PAP news agency reported.
Ziobro also said that unless the EU’s top court addressed media allegations that its judges “agreed verdicts during hunting outings and banquets with politicians,” it would be regarded as “disgraced in the eyes of the public.”
Referring to Monday's judgement, the Polish justice minister said that “the CJEU yet again overstepped its powers by giving itself the right to interfere in the justice systems of member states.”
Ziobro stated: “The EU has not been granted powers to assess the organisation of justice systems of the member states, yet the CJEU re-interprets Treaties and makes an unwarranted assessment of the Polish justice system.”
The Polish justice minister also argued that the ruling "deprives Polish people of the right to obtain information about the organisations, including political parties, to which the judges belong.”
The EU’s Luxembourg-based top court said on Monday that publishing online declarations on judges' membership in associations, non-profit foundations or political parties violated their right to privacy and could be used to sway them, the Reuters news agency reported.
Ziobro told reporters that “the CJEU’s judgement also contradicts the judgement of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal, which ruled that issues to do with the organisation of the justice system are outside the EU’s remit."
'Regulations that no longer exist’
Poland’s Minister for European Affairs, Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk, said that “the CJEU’s ruling refers largely to legal regulations that no longer exist,” the PAP news agency reported.
He added: “In the meantime, the Disciplinary Chamber of Poland’s Supreme Court has been disbanded … The regulations for which Poland was brought before the CJEU [by the European Commission] have been considerably changed.”
The CJEU ruled on Monday: “The measures thus adopted by the Polish legislature are incompatible with the guarantees of access to an independent and impartial tribunal. previously established by law. Those guarantees mean that, in certain circumstances, national courts are required to ascertain whether they themselves or the judges of whom they are composed or other judges or courts meet the requirements laid down by EU law.”
The EU’s top court added that Poland’s justice reform “conferred on a single national body (namely the Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs Chamber of the Supreme Court) jurisdiction to verify compliance with essential requirements relating to effective judicial protection,” which “infringes EU law,” the PAP news agency reported.
Dispute over Poland’s justice reform
Poland’s justice reform, for which Brussels brought an action before the CJEU, was enacted on December 20, 2019, according to officials.
During the proceedings before the EU’s top court, at the request of the European Commission, the CJEU in July 2021 ordered Poland to suspend the application of the provisions of the 2019 justice reform contested by Brussels, while the “Commission vs. Poland” case was ongoing, according to officials.
In October 2021, the CJEU ordered Poland to pay the Commission a daily penalty of EUR 1 million for not suspending the application of the 2019 justice reform regarding the powers of the now-defunct Disciplinary Chamber of Poland’s Supreme Court with respect to judges, the PAP news agency reported.
In July 2022, following the passage of legislation introduced by President Andrzej Duda, the Disciplinary Chamber of Poland’s Supreme Court was disbanded and replaced by a new Chamber of Professional Responsibility, according to news outlets.
In November 2022, the Polish government asked the Commission to suspend the daily fine, arguing it had delivered the reforms required by the CJEU, including the dissolution of the Disciplinary Chamber, the PAP news agency reported.
However, Brussels declined on the grounds that Poland had not fully implemented the CJEU’s order from July 2021, according to officials.
In January 2023, Poland’s lower house, the Sejm, voted to move the disciplinary regime for judges and matters of judicial impunity from the Supreme Court’s Chamber of Professional Responsibility to the Supreme Administrative Court, news outlets reported.
The new rules also foresee significant changes in the “test of a judge’s independence and impartiality,” according to the PAP news agency.
In March 2023, Poland asked the CJEU to cancel or modify the October 2021 decision ordering Warsaw to pay the daily fine of EUR 1 million, arguing it had now fully complied with the “temporary measures” imposed by the CJEU in July 2021, according to officials.
In April 2023, the CJEU halved the daily fine on Poland to EUR 500,000, saying that Warsaw has largely delivered the required changes, the PAP news agency reported.
Poland's conservative government has been embroiled in a long-standing dispute with the European Commission over judicial reforms that critics say undermine the independence of the courts, according to reports.
The row has blocked EUR 23.9 billion in grants and EUR 11.5 billion in loans from the EU’s pandemic relief fund and also triggered the fines, news outlets have reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, Reuters, gazetaprawna.pl, polskieradio24.pl