Poland response to EU rule of law investigation: everything is in order

In a response to the European Commission’s concerns over the potential breach of rule of law in Poland, Polish government said that it is in line with European standards, and the concerns are “groundless.” “In response to the Recommendation, the Polish side has underlined that the ongoing legislative measures, whose overriding aim is to reform the judicial system, are in line with European standards and respond to many years of growing social expectations in this regard, and so they groundlessly raise the Commission’s doubts,” Poland’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Last month, President Andrzej Duda signed into a law a bill giving the justice minister the power to replace heads of ordinary courts, but after mass protests blocked two other bills which would allow the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) to replace Supreme Court Judges as well as overhaul the National Council of Judiciary (KRS) which would terminate its members' terms with new ones picked by the parliament. The Council has powers to nominate judges, while the Supreme Court confirms the validity of elections, among other tasks. In July, The European Commission launched legal action against what it sees as Polish government attempts to undermine the independence of judges, giving Warsaw a month to respond. The Commission is concerned about the discretionary power given to Poland's minister of justice to prolong the mandates of judges who reach retirement age, as well as to dismiss and appoint court presidents. “The new rules allow the minister of justice to exert influence on individual ordinary judges through, in particular, the vague criteria for the prolongation of their mandates thereby undermining the principle of irremovability of judges,” the European Commission said in a statement.