They infected the Polish system. They became a group holding power in the judiciary, which led to enormous chaos, to the fact that judicial promotions were given to people in power, and not to independent judges. And this is the original sin – said KO MP Borys Budka in “Fakty po Faktach” about PiS politicians.
Piotr Marciniak’s guest in Tuesday’s edition of “Fakty po Faktach” on TVN24 was an MP from the Civic Coalition Borys Budkawho was asked about today’s stormy session in the Sejm and the speeches of ministers who spoke out of turn during the discussion about choice candidates for the National Council of the Judiciary.
Marshal of the Sejm Szymon Hołownia allowed them to speak on the basis of the rules of procedure of the Sejm. – I would also like to point out that every regulation can be abused. If we were to deal with a situation in which everyone would report to us the Council of MinistersIn my opinion, in order to disrupt the agenda of the Sejm, I will limit the number of speeches by members of the Council of Ministers during this debate – he said.
READ MORE: Ziobro and Czarnek at the podium. In the room about “jokes”, “rudeness” and “abuse of regulations”
Jarosław Kaczyński “must understand that the Sejm has ended without a procedure”
– Let me remind you that Mr. (former Deputy Speaker of the Sejm – ed.) Terlecki always gave half a minute to ask a question. It was Mrs. (former Speaker of the Sejm – ed.) Witek who completely excluded the possibility of asking questions in the third reading. They made a farce of the Sejm, and today they tried to abuse the regulations by pretending that the speeches of the ministers who resigned yesterday before the president are speeches that concern the tasks of the Council of Ministers, Budka commented.
He also assessed that Hołownia “did very well when it came to regulatory matters.” – I think he gave me a lot to think about PiS MPs – he assessed.
During the dispute in the Sejm, during Minister Zbigniew Ziobro’s speech, Jarosław Kaczyński approached the Marshal. In the program, Budka was asked if he knew what the PiS president expected from the Speaker of the Sejm. “I have no idea,” he replied.
– Jarosław Kaczyński seems really lost, after eight years he must understand that the Sejm “without procedure” is over. Jarosław Kaczyński has repeatedly violated the rules of procedure of the Sejm, showing that for him no rules matter. After all, he was the one who appeared at the podium “without any mode,” he mentioned. – Jarosław Kaczyński must get used to the fact that in the Sejm of the Republic of Poland of the 10th term, the law will apply to everyone, the regulations will apply to everyone – he emphasized.
Jarosław Kaczyński approached Szymon HołowniaTVN24
“They infected the Polish system and became a group that holds power in the judiciary”
The conversation also touched on the topic of the National Council of the Judiciary, to which new members were elected today in the Sejm.
– Let me remind you that the Sejm of the Republic of Poland elects four members, the Senate two members, while PiS ensured that in the previous terms the Sejm of the Republic of Poland elected not only the four members referred to in the constitution, but also elected fifteen judges who were appointed by the party of Ziobro and colleagues. Who have nothing to do with independence, said Budka.
According to the KO MP, PiS politicians “infected the Polish system.” – They became a group holding power in the judiciary, which led to enormous chaos, but above all, it led to the fact that judicial promotions were given to people in power, not to independent judges. And this is original sin, he emphasized.
When asked whether the coalition formed by KO, Left and Trzecia Droga had any ideas on how to repair the National Council of the Judiciary, Budka confirmed.
– The justice system should be repaired in the right order. First of all, the election of three judges of the Constitutional Tribunal must be declared invalid, because let me remind you that this is the execution of a legal judgment of the Tribunal from 2015. This can be stated by the Sejm, because the Sejm must correct the original sin committed in 2015 by the PiS majority – he explained.
Borys Budka in “Facts after Facts”TVN24
Budka referred to the resolution on the legality of the election of three judges – so-called doubles – to the Constitutional Tribunal. The host of the program asked him whether politicians were afraid that if the Sejm adopted such a resolution, the Prime Minister might prevent it from being published in Monitor Polski.
– These resolutions do not require publication. They only state that the Sejm of the Republic of Poland violated the constitution in 2015 by confirming the Tribunal’s judgment. Because there is a judgment of the legal Constitutional Tribunal, which stated that the Sejm with the PiS majority illegally filled these positions, so the election is invalid – he replied.
Therefore, as Budka summed up, the coalition wants to first deal with the resolution of the Sejm regarding the so-called double judges, and then the situation in the National Council of the Judiciary.
READ MORE IN KONKRET 24: Przyłębska: there are no judges elected illegally in the Constitutional Tribunal. Who changed the law and what did Andrzej Duda do?
Who are the understudy judges?
On December 3, 2015, the Constitutional Tribunal – during the presidency of Andrzej Rzepliński – ruled that the provision on the basis of which three judges were elected in the 7th term (Roman Hauser, Krzysztof Ślebzak, Andrzej Jakubecki) was consistent with the constitution, i.e. the persons subsequently elected to their places were not should sit on the Court.
On December 9, 2015, the Constitutional Tribunal, now composed by PiS, declared the amendment to the Constitutional Tribunal Act of November 19, 2015 unconstitutional. According to both of these Constitutional Tribunal judgments, both from December 3 and 9, the three judges elected by the Sejm of the 7th term were appointed in accordance with the law. However, they never made it to the Tribunal.
Representatives of the then authorities argued that the Sejm had already elected judges to fill the vacant positions on December 2, 2015, so the Constitutional Tribunal was complete. The president swore in Henryk Cioch, Lech Morawski and Mariusz Muszyński to replace the Constitutional Tribunal judges duly elected by the Sejm of the 7th term. Cioch and Morawski died in 2017, and the Sejm then elected Jarosław Wyrembak and Justyn Piskorski in their places. These three judges (Muszyński, Wyrembak, Piskorski) are called “understudies” because they replaced judges Hauser, Ślebzak and Jakubecki.
Main photo source: TVN24