WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s new pro-European government presented on Monday a package of solutions which it says will restore the independence of the country’s top court from political influence.
The Constitutional Tribunal is at the heart of a dispute over the rule of law in Poland after the previous Law and Justice (PiS) government introduced a series of reforms that critics at home and abroad said undermined democratic rules.
PiS reforms resulted in Brussels freezing billions of euros in European Union funds for Poland, which were unblocked last week after the new pro-European government presented a plan to restore the rule of law.
Poland’s new cabinet says the Tribunal was politicised under the previous administration and included illegally appointed judges.
“We are doing this so that citizens can be sure that the Tribunal will defend their rights, the constitution, laws and not the interest of one political party or another,” said ruling Civic Platform (PO) lawmaker, Kamila Gasiuk-Pihowicz.
The PiS argued its changes were necessary to rid the system of Communist-era vestiges and to make it more fair and efficient.
The changes proposed on Monday include a resolution stating that some of the Tribunal’s judges have been appointed illegally and should resign.
They also include proposed changes to the Constitution regarding the appointment of a new set of judges, including the need for their candidacy to gain a three fifths majority in parliament and for their nine-year terms to be staggered, so they are not elected by one party.
The government needs to deal with the Tribunal to fulfil some of its election promises. The court, headed by Julia Przylebska whom PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski considers a “close friend”, rules on the constitutionality of bills and may block any changes.
The resolution on the Tribunal will be debated in the lower house of parliament later this week.
The ruling coalition does not a have a big enough majority in parliament to change the Constitution. It is also not clear if President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, would sign such changes into law.
(Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk and Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
Comments