In response to yesterday’s action by the European Commission against Poland over its disciplinary system for judges, the prime minister’s chief of staff has suggested that Brussels “misunderstands” the situation. He confirmed that the disciplinary chamber is set to be “liquidated” within the next few months.
The hardline justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, has, however, called on the government to continue its “reform” of the judiciary “regardless of what the European Commission says”. He again accused Brussels of mounting a “hybrid war” against Poland.
Opposition politicians have criticised the government for leading Poland to a situation where it could face millions of euros in fines for failing to comply with rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)
The commission yesterday announced that it was applying to the CJEU for Poland to face daily fines over its failure to suspend the Supreme Court’s disciplinary chamber, as it was ordered to do by the CJEU in July.
Brussels also launched further infringement proceedings against Warsaw over its failure to fully explain of how it plans to dismantle the chamber, which the CJEU found to be in violation of European law.
Speaking to Radio Zet, Michał Dworczyk – the head of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s chancellery – said that the government was yet to receive details from the commission of its latest legal steps.
But he noted that Warsaw had last month “sent our explanations” about how it plans to respond to the July rulings. This included informing Brussels that “everything indicates the disciplinary chamber will be liquidated”, said Dworczyk.
The process, however, “depends on the legislature”, he added. “These are political decisions and this legislative process will certainly take place in the coming months…as part of wide reform of the judiciary.”
Given that the government has already explained this to Brussels, Dworczyk suggested that “perhaps the current situation stems from a certain misunderstanding of the exact system that functions in Poland…Perhaps some issues have been misunderstood by the commission, so we will clarify this”.
The government’s spokesman, Piotr Müller, noted that it was up to the Supreme Court to decide on suspending its disciplinary chamber. “As in every EU country, in Poland the judicial branch is independent of the executive, and therefore the CJEU judgement can be applied by the Supreme Court,” he said, quoted by Interia.
Ziobro – who as well as being justice minister is leader of a eurosceptic junior party in Poland’s ruling coalition – took a tougher line in response to yesterday’s announcements by the commission. He argued that, rather than misunderstanding the issue, the EU is deliberately acting “aggressively”.
He repeated his claims, first made last month, that Brussels is “waging a hybrid war against Poland”. Ziobro called for the government to “complete reform of the judiciary regardless of what the commission says”, because it is “acting in bad faith”, reports RMF24.
Tomasz Siemoniak, a deputy leader of the centrist Civic Platform (PO), Poland’s largest opposition party, accused Ziobro of using “completely absurd” language to describe the conflict.
Siemoniak noted that even Morawiecki and Jarosław Kaczyński, the ruling party chairman, have recently noted that the government’s judicial reforms have not been a success. “Citizens have had no benefit from these pseudo-reforms, and they can lose a lot [because] European funds are endangered,” he told Polskie Radio.
“Poles are becoming hostages in the war between Jarosław Kaczyński and Zbigniew Ziobro,” said Krzysztof Śmiszek, an MP from The Left (Lewica), quoted by Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. “We’re facing having to pay enormous penalties, which may amount to several million euros a day.”
Main image credit: Adam Guz/KPRM (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
