Poland’s PiS tears through parliamentary proceedings to ensure fast Supreme Court purge

Poland’s PiS tears through parliamentary proceedings to ensure fast Supreme Court purge
By Wojciech Kosc in Warsaw July 20, 2018

MPs for Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) were ripping through parliamentary rules of procedure on July 19 in order to pass a draft bill removing obstacles to placing government-friendly judges in the Supreme Court, including the court’s president.

The ruling populists are in a hurry to seal the takeover of the judiciary by establishing control over the Supreme Court before the European Commission – which considers PiS’ judiciary reforms a threat to the rule of law – steps in to prevent the overhaul.

According to PiS, the Polish judiciary must be cleansed of corporatism, made more efficient and reliable to citizens. Too many judges still work in courts – including in the Supreme Court – who were active during the darkest hours of communism in Poland in early 1980s, when the ruling military junta enforced martial law to crush democratic Solidarity movement, PiS also claims.

However, the Commission, the international judiciary bodies, and human rights watchdogs say the reform is a way for PiS to ensure political control over courts. That threatens with abuse of basic human rights, such as the right to fair trial and raises concern over courts’ impartiality in political cases, they charge.

The Commission is also investigating Poland for a possible breach of the rule of law principle. The probe could – in theory – result in suspension of Poland’s voting rights in the EU although it would require unanimity of all member states. Poland’s ally Hungary has long said it will not support any sanctions against Warsaw.

Poland’s tampering with the rule of law may also hit the country’s economy, as some EU member states propose that doling out funding from the next EU budget be linked to adherence to democratic values.

Meanwhile, president of the Supreme Court, Malgorzata Gersdorf, whom PiS seeks to force into early retirement in spite of her six-year term – written into the Constitution – expiring in 2020, began showing up at work after a brief vacation.

Gersdorf insisted she is president of the Supreme Court in a letter sent to President Andrzej Duda on July 19.

According to PiS, she is now retired, in line with the law on the Supreme Court that took effect in April. The law says the Supreme Court judges must retire at age 65 unless they ask the president to continue their work. The president can reject such requests, however.

A successful moulding of the Supreme Court to PiS’ political objectives would mark the ruling party completing the takeover of yet another key judiciary institution after the Constitutional Tribunal and the judge appointing body, the National Judiciary Council.

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