Poland has once again received a setback from European justice. A ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU ruled this Monday that the controversial judicial reform that was approved in 2019 is contrary to European law. The ruling ruled in favor of the European Commission (EC) which has always considered that the judicial reform, which modified national rules for the organization of ordinary courts, administrative courts and the Supreme Court, could undermine the independence of these bodies.
Specifically, the ruling warns that the law affects "judicial independence", even more so with the creation of a Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court, "whose independence and impartiality are not guaranteed"; and that it must rule on "matters that directly affect the statute of judges and the exercise of jurisdictional functions."
Despite the fact that changes have been made to this Disciplinary Chamber at the request of Brussels, the European Commission has maintained its doubts and continues to question judicial independence in the country. "The mere prospect that the judges who have jurisdiction to apply Union Law run the risk that said body may rule on issues relating to its statute and the exercise of its functions (...) may affect its independence" , says the Court.
Since the Executive governed by Law and Justice announced the judicial reform, Brussels has always warned that it undermines the independence of judges and that it has always lacked guarantees to protect magistrates from political control. In fact, Brussels has always feared that it was a way to purge judges who were not sympathetic to the government of Mateusz Morawiecki, due to a disciplinary regime that, based on their sentences, can apply investigations and sanctions to them. Even the possibility of asking preliminary questions to the European courts was considered a reason to open a file.
The same law also requires judges to present a declaration to indicate whether they belong to an association, foundation or political party, and although the government has always defended that it was a way of validating judicial independence, according to the European Court "it is apt to achieve” that objective. In his opinion, fundamental rights such as respect for private life are violated. "It has the capacity to expose judges to a risk of undue stigmatization, unjustifiably affecting the perception that both defendants and the general public have of them," the statement said.
The sentence puts an end to the fine that the country has been accumulating, of 550 million euros, for ignoring for two years a precautionary stoppage of the activity of the Disciplinary Chamber. In any case, it does not exempt Warsaw from paying, and Brussels can still request that Poland be sanctioned if it maintains this breach.
Poland still does not receive a single euro of the more than 35,000 million from the recovery plan, because although the EC gave the go-ahead a year ago, in exchange for applying reforms, all the objectives on judicial independence have not yet been met.
“It is an important day for the restoration of judicial independence in Poland (…) the law violates the basic principles of the legal order of the EU. Now we hope that Poland complies with the decision," warned Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders.
The decision is one more after years of tensions and everything indicates that it will not be the last. Brussels has already warned of its doubts about the new law of Russian interference and has asked for explanations.
