Banking commission unconstitutional

Things went from bad to worse for Law and Justice (PiS) at the end of last week. Just after the coalition fell apart, with Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński expelling Self-defense's (SO) leader Andrzej Lepper from the government, the Constitutional Tribunal (TK) dealt the ruling party another heavy blow. Last Friday, the Tribunal declared that the Sejm's resolution establishing the Banking Commission was unconstitutional.

The motion for the Tribunal to examine the resolution was submitted by Civic Platform (PO), which claimed that the commission's scope of activities mentioned in the resolution is unclear, while the law stipulates that an investigative commission should be given clear and concrete tasks. Those who proposed the motion also claimed that the Sejm's resolution breached the constitutional guarantee of separation of powers among the branches of government as well as the independence of the central bank. PiS' representatives claimed that TK only has the right to study acts of law - normative acts and international agreements - and not parliamentary resolutions.

TK decided that parliamentary resolutions lie within its mandate and supported the motion. The head of TK, Prof Marek Safjan, did not take part in the voting, because his daughter is employed in the central bank.

Friday's verdict certainly will not improve the already strained relations between the ruling PiS and the Tribunal, which has on a number of occasions declared the party's ideas unconstitutional (such as its media law). PiS officials have accused TK of being a group of "wisemen," who are legislating from the bench rather than deciding if laws are compatible with the Constitution.

"PiS just can't accept the fact that something in the state is beyond their control, and that [another body in the state] can control them," said the Deputy Speaker of the Sejm Bronisław Komorowski from PO.

TK is made up of 15 judges, elected by the Sejm for nine-year terms, which end in different years. The candidates must meet the same requirements as candidates for the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court and their candidacies can be proposed by 50 Deputies or the Presidium of the Sejm. They are chosen by an absolute majority of votes. Within the next two years, the terms of eight members of TK will come to an end, which would mean that if PiS somehow manages to maintain a majority government, it could gain control of the Tribunal.