FM calls Venice Commission to postpone its report
15:14
Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksander Stępkowski has called for postponing the publication of the opinion of Council of Europe's Venice Commission on the reform to the Constitutional Tribunal due to the leak of a draft document last weekend.
On Saturday, Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza revealed the report, which read that changes to Poland's constitutional court endanger the rule of law, democracy and human rights.
" I have proposed the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to take measures towards restoring mutual trust. One step, we believe, is to decide to postpone work on the opinion so as to avoid an atmosphere of intensified political battle," Stępkowski said.
Despite the appeal, spokeswoman for the Venica Commission Tatiana Mychelova told private broadcaster RMF FM that there is a "90 percent certainty" that the opinion will be published within a week and not in June.
Earlier, Thorbjorn Jagland, head of the Council of Europe, issued a statement, in which he said that "it is unfortunate that this draft opinion of the Venice Commission on amendments to the law on the Constitutional Court of Poland was leaked in violation of its restricted character, and that discussions are now being based on a draft opinion. I urge all to await the final opinion, to be adopted at the formal session of the Venice Commission, and to avoid any misuse of it politically.”
