Poland stages retreat on controversial laws ahead of EU summit

Poland stages retreat on controversial laws ahead of EU summit
The move is believed to follow pressure by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on the ruling PiS / premier.gov.pl
By bne IntelliNews March 23, 2018

Poland unexpectedly tabled a set of draft bills aimed at amending contested laws reforming the judiciary and the controversial “Holocaust speech” law on March 22.

The move came shortly ahead of the two-day EU summit in Brussels and is speculated to be a result of pressure Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki applied on the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party in order to ease tension between Warsaw and Brussels.

Poland and the European Commission have been at loggerheads for over two years over PiS’ judiciary reforms. The Commission says the reforms put Polish courts under the direct control of the government, thus dismantling standards of democratic checks and balances.

Brussels’ launch of the Article 7 procedure in December threatened Poland with having its voting rights in the bloc stripped, although that was always an unlikely development. Poland’s ally Hungary said it would block sanctioning Poland.

Warsaw claims the reforms are sorely needed in order to end the corporatism of judges and make courts more efficient and better for citizens seeking justice.

But the tabled changes appear to be a smokescreen at least in part. One amendment proposes to reduce the power of the justice minister to dismiss courts’ presidents and vice presidents by making it compulsory for the minister to consult the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) beforehand.

Following the reform, however, Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro has already cleansed courts of many judges, while PiS has recently taken over control of the KRS.

PiS also said it will publish three rulings by the Constitutional Tribunal (TK) that rendered the party’s earlier attempt at controlling the TK unconstitutional. However, the rulings concern laws no longer in force – since PiS went through many cycles of changing laws affecting the TK – and their publication has no real effect, in fact.

PiS appears to be ready to backtrack on one issue for real, the judges’ retirement age, which drew ire of the Commission as discriminating against women. The ruling party is now proposing that female and male judges retire at 65, although women will be able to retire early if they choose to do so. The retirement age was set at 60 for women previously.

The ruling party is also seeking to change the highly controversial “Holocaust speech” law, which makes it a criminal offence to blame Poland or the Polish nation for Nazi war crimes. The passing of the law caused international outrage and soured Poland’s relationship with Israel and the US.

Poland’s prosecutor general said the law’s application to foreigners is not enforceable and could backfire on Poland’s image abroad, which it in fact did in the weeks after the PiS-controlled parliament passed the law and President Andrzej Duda signed off on it.

PiS unexpectedly backtracking, or posing to backtrack, on the controversial legislation is said to be the work of Morawiecki, seeking to end the crisis with the EU ahead of crucial budget talks.

For its part, the European Commission also needs to show it handled the row with Poland well. Some Polish media claimed that the PiS’ move to change the divisive legislation was consulted with the Commission in secret talks so as to give the EU executive grounds to announce the end of the conflict.

The question remains, however, if the Commission would like to endorse the part of the proposed changes that are effectively cosmetic and do not affect the substance of the PiS’ judiciary reform.

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