Poland has once again received a setback from European justice. A ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU ruled yesterday that the controversial judicial reform that was approved in 2019 is contrary to European law. The judgment rules 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 Disputes and the Supreme Court, may undermine the independence of these bodies.
Specifically, the judgment warns that the law affects "judicial independence", and even more with the creation of a Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court, "whose independence and impartiality are not guaranteed"; and that he must pronounce on "questions that directly affect the status of judges and the exercise of jurisdictional functions".
Despite the fact that changes have been made in 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 the law of the union run the risk that the aforementioned body may pronounce on questions relating to its status and the exercise of its functions (...) may affect its independence", assures 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 of purging judges who are not related 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 prejudicial questions to European justice was considered a reason to open a file.
In the same law, judges are also required to submit a statement to indicate whether they belong to an association, foundation or political party, and although the government has always defended that it was a way to validate judicial independence, according to the European Court "is not suitable to achieve" this goal.
"It has the capacity to expose judges to a risk of undue stigmatization, and unjustifiably affects the perception of them both by litigants and the general public," the statement says.
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 suspension of the activity of the Disciplinary Chamber. In any case, it does not exempt Warsaw from paying, and Brussels can still ask that Poland be sanctioned if it continues to default.
Poland continues to not receive a single euro of the more than 35,000 million of the recovery plan, because even though the EC gave the go-ahead a year ago in exchange for implementing reforms, not all of the objectives regarding judicial independence have yet been met.
"It is an important day for the restoration of judicial independence in Poland (...), the law violates the basic principles of the EU legal order. Now we hope that Poland complies with the decision", warned the Commissioner of Justice, Didier Reynders.
The decision is one more after years of tension and everything indicates that it will not be the last. Brussels has already warned of its doubts about the new Russian interference law and has asked for explanations.
