Judicial reform requiring Polish judges to reveal their political affiliation violates the bloc’s legal guidelines, the ruling mentioned
The EU’s prime courtroom has sided with earlier criticism from Brussels of controversial judicial reform enacted in Poland in 2019, ruling on Monday that Warsaw had breached the bloc’s legal guidelines with the measures.
The ruling by the Court docket of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is the newest blow dealt by the EU to the conservative authorities of the Legislation and Justice Celebration (PiS). The EU judges reiterated a earlier ruling on a now-defunct Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court docket, and likewise dominated on a number of restrictions and transparency calls for that the reform had launched in December 2019 for Polish judges.
The SJEU had dominated in 2021 that the Disciplinary Chamber was in breach of EU regulation and ordered its dissolution, which Poland carried out the next yr.
The European Fee had earlier sued Poland over the reform, which it argued had compromised the independence and impartiality of the judiciary.
Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro blasted the decision, claiming on Monday that it was “not written by judges however politicians” within the EU and claimed that the courtroom that issued it was “corrupt.”
The ruling additionally criticized the restrictions imposed on the authority of Polish courts to resolve whether or not home insurance policies complied with EU legal guidelines. Concentrating this authority within the fingers of a single physique underneath the reform was monopolistic and undermined “the basic proper to efficient judicial safety enshrined in EU regulation,” the courtroom mentioned in a press release.
EU judges additionally took concern with the demand that Polish Supreme Court docket judges disclose their official and personal political affiliations. The measure was touted by Warsaw as a strategy to strengthen the impartiality of the judiciary, however the CJEU mentioned it violated the justices’ privateness and uncovered them to “stigmatization.”
The ruling is ultimate and, amongst different issues, places a cap on the accumulating advantageous that was imposed on Poland in October 2021 over the reform. The every day penalty initially amounted to €1 million ($1.07 million), however was decreased by half in April. It presently totals about €550 million ($588 million), which the CJEU burdened Warsaw should pay.
The ruling comes after a mass protest over the weekend by the Polish opposition, led by former Prime Minister Donald Tusk. A former President of the European Council, he’s a staunch supporter of the bloc and presently represents Poland as an MEP. Tusk claimed that some 500,000 attended the rally.
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