Duda and PiS ‘close reaching a compromise’ over judiciary reforms

After the latest meeting on Friday, representatives of the ruling Law and Justice party, and President Andrzej Duda said that they’re close reaching a compromise on judiciary reforms. “Law and Justice has made huge concessions when it comes to the judiciary reform. I think that we are close to an agreement,” Elżbieta Mazurek, a PiS spokeswoman said, adding that PiS agreed on Duda’s proposal that parliament will need a three-fifths majority to appoint new top judges as well as to reduce the influence of the justice minister on courts. According to Duda’s top advisor Krzysztof Szczerski, the last meeting between the President and PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński, the Friday meeting was “a step towards achieving a shared, compromise version of the judiciary reforms within the boundaries of the bills recently submitted to parliament by the president.” In July, Duda unexpectedly vetoed PiS reform proposals following nationwide protests and warnings from Poland’s Western allies about the politicization of the courts. The changes were aimed at overhauling the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS), which nominates judges, and the Supreme Court, which among other things, rules on the validity of elections. The veto raised questions about whether PiS would uphold its support for Duda in the next presidential election. In September the president made counter-proposals which still envisaged greater political control over the courts but to be exercised by the president and not by the justice minister, as well as parliament.