EU criticizes Polish judiciary reforms

Leaders of two major European Parliament groups Guy Verhofstadt (Alde) and Manfred Weber (EPP) urged the EU and the European Commission to act. “By changing the law, Law and Justice (PiS) is turning its back for good on the independence of the judiciary. A red line was crossed yesterday. With this vote, the PiS is putting an end to the rule of law and democracy in Poland and leaving the European community of values. We call on the Polish government to drop this reform plan,” Weber said. Verhofstadt called for a special hearing on the case with Commission deputy head Frans Timmermans and Polish justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, while the Council of Europe, called the ongoing judiciary reforms “a major setback for judicial independence.” The European Commission spokesman, Alexander Winterstein, said a Commission rule-of-law monitoring procedure, which was earlier triggered by the Constitutional Court dispute, would take a look at the latest developments and that Timmermans might comment later. Such reactions came after Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party pushed through the parliament its latest bill aimed to overhaul Polish courts. The new law will terminate the terms of the current National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) members and allow the parliament to select 15 of its 25 representatives. The Council has powers to nominate judges, who are later appointed by the president. Its members are currently mostly selected by the judges themselves for four-year terms, the parliament has a right to choose four of them. Another bill gives the justice minister right to nominate judges to district and appeals court.