The European Commission is referring Poland to the Court of Justice of the EU regarding the new disciplinary regime for Polish judges, requesting an expedited procedure.
In April, the European Commission launched infringement procedures against Poland on the grounds that the new disciplinary regime undermines the judicial independence of Polish judges and does not ensure the necessary guarantees to protect judges from political control.
According to Polish law, ordinary court judges are subjected to disciplinary investigations, procedures and sanctions on the basis of the content of their judicial decisions. Moreover, the new disciplinary regime does not guarantee the independence and impartiality of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court, which is composed solely of judges selected by the National Council for the Judiciary, which is itself appointed by the Polish Parliament.
Therefore, the new regime no longer guarantees that cases are processed within a reasonable timeframe and judges are not insulated from political control so that judicial independence is violated.
This is just the latest action taken by European institutions against Poland’s breach of the rule of law.
In 2017, the European Commission triggered Article 7 disciplinary measures against Poland.
In 2018 the commission launched infringement procedures over a law regarding the Polish Supreme Court, on the grounds of its retirement provisions. Soon after the Supreme Court found that lowering the retirement age of the court’s judges was contrary to EU law and breached the principle of the irremovability of judges and thus that of judicial independence.
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