Polish constitutional judges refuse to hear case on unlocking EU funds until chief justice steps down

A group of rebel judges on Poland’s constitutional court have written to its chief justice making clear that they will not allow a hearing to take place on a key judicial law intended to unlock billions of euros in frozen EU funds until she steps down.

The Constitutional Tribunal (TK) has been locked in an internal dispute since the turn of the year, when six of its 15 judges said that they no longer recognised the legitimacy of its president, Julia Przyłębska. They argue – as do many legal experts – that her term as chief justice ended in December 2022.

Przyłębska, however, denies that and says that her term lasts until 2024. The chief justice – who is a close associate of Jarosław Kaczyński, chairman of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party – has received backing from the government. Last month, Przyłębska saw off an attempt by the rebel judges to remove her.

The issue is seen as being of particular importance because in February President Andrzej Duda asked the TK to assess the constitutionality of a bill passed by parliament that would reform Poland’s disciplinary system for judges in the hope of meeting EU demands to improve judicial independence.

The government says that introducing the law will unlock billions of euros of funds frozen by Brussels due to concern over the rule of law.

However, to rule on the bill the TK must sit with a bench containing at least 11 of its 15 judges. That would be impossible if the rebels refuse to take part, and in a new letter they have made clear that they will not do so until Przyłębska steps aside and allows her successor as chief justice to be chosen.

The letter, dated 5 April and signed by five of the six rebel judges, was shared on social media this morning by Krystyna Pawłowicz, a former PiS MP and one of the TK justices who remains loyal to Przyłębska.

The signatories say that they “understand the interest of the Polish state related to the immediate handling of this case” and that they are therefore “already preparing to adjudicate on it”.

But they argue that, because Przyłębska is no longer the legitimate president of the court, “all actions taken by you [that are] assigned by law to the president of the Constitutional Tribunal are ineffective and violate the applicable law”.

They repeat their call for Przyłębska to convene a general assembly of the court’s judges to choose a new chief justice.

Main image credit: Adrian Grycuk/Wikimedia Commons (under CC BY-SA 3.0 PL)

Daniel Tilles

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.