Poland will do away with the controversial system for disciplining judges as European Union (E.U.) believes it violates the E.U. laws
The Head of ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) for Poland – Jaroslaw Kaczynski has announced that Poland will do away with the controversial system for disciplining judges as European Union (E.U.) believes it violates the E.U. laws.
The disciplinary chamber for judges is one of the judicial reforms that was recently introduced by Poland. The Disciplinary Chamber allows judges to be punished for the content of their verdicts. This has been highly condemned by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) as it undermines judicial independence and exerts political control over judicial decisions.
The European Commission has given time till August 16, 2021 to dissolve the system or else face penalties for violation of E.U. terms.
Although Kaczynski said that he did not recognise the ECJ’s verdict and that it went beyond what was allowed by the E.U. treaties, but they would still scrap the disciplinary chamber to comply with the E.U. terms. He further clarified that it’s not so that Disciplinary Chamber will not function in any form but would be revamped.
Speaking on the occasion, Kaczynski said, “We will dissolve the Disciplinary Chamber as it currently operates and in this way the subject of the dispute will disappear.”
Some experts believe that mere scrapping of Disciplinary Chamber would not address the past unlawful decisions passed by the body. If they have to comply with the E.U., they must undo everything they have done in the past 5 years.
The Head of Poland’s Supreme Court has already frozen the Disciplinary Chamber and has said no to new cases until legislative changes are introduced or until the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issues a final verdict on the matter.
Moreover, there have been differences within the ruling coalition party over how to respond to E.U.’s orders. There are fears if Poland agrees to E.U. terms, the coalition Government may fall.
Under the ruling party of PiS, Poland has clashed with the E.U. on a number of fronts, such as freedom of press, the rights of migrants, women and more recently gays.
Separately, Poland and Hungary are setting-up a joint institute to assess the state of rule of law across member states of E.U. to avoid being taken for granted and being accused of breaching the rule of law. The rule of law guarantees fundamental rights and values, allows the application of EU law and
supports an investment-friendly business environment. It is one of the fundamental values upon which the EU is based on.
The institute would examine how the rule of law has been upheld across the E.U. and would avoid “double standards” being applied to Hungary and Poland.
Also, if Poland violates the rule of law and doesn’t amend its Disciplinary Chamber, it may lose on € 58.1 billion which it will receive under Recovery and Resilience Facility for overcoming the economic consequences of Coronavirus (COVID-19).
