Duda threatens to veto Supreme Court reform

In what seems like an attempt to calm down the tensions caused by recent attempts to overhaul Polish judiciary, President Andrzej Duda said that he will not sign any bill changing the legal system, and submitted his own proposal for a reform of the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS). He added, that only after it passes through parliament would he sign the Supreme Court bill into law. “The judiciary needs to be reformed, but the reforms need to be wise,” Duda said. Duda’s proposal raises the majority needed to appoint new judges to a three-fifths majority, instead of the simple majority in the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) bill, which was approved by the parliament last week. It doesn’t, however, change the fact that the new law will still terminate the terms of the current KRS members and allow the parliament to select 15 of its 25 representatives, which effectively gives it the power to nominate judges. The move came as a surprise to many, as Duda, who is PiS ally, so far has been fully backing the government’s every move. But many legal experts said that his proposal is still in breach of Constitution, and effectively gives power over judiciary to politicians, effectively ending the separation of power rule. The opposition hailed the president’s decision. ”We accept the president's stance with appreciation,” Civic Plaform (PO) Grzegorz Schetyna said. Despite what Duda said, the parliament voted to move forward with the debate on the Supreme Court reform bill, which calls for the retirement of all Supreme Court judges and new appointments to be made by the justice minister. Among the court's tasks is confirming the validity of elections. The tensions in the parliament, and in front of it, have been high since Sunday when the building was cordoned off by barriers after thousands protested against the Supreme Court legislation in Warsaw and other cities. In Brussels, leaders of five main political groups in the European Parliament, EPP, Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, ALDE, The Greens, and GUE-NGL have called on EU institutions to “speak out and act” against the latest reforms of the judiciary system in Poland.