“The President has appointed a neo-judge who was illegally appointed to the Court as a commissioner to conduct the election of the President of the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court. Without the Prime Minister's consent and signature, such an appointment would be invalid (…). But the Prime Minister agreed,” we read in a post posted on social media by Włodzimierz Wróbel, a judge of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court. He referred to the President's resolution published on Tuesday, which bears the Prime Minister's countersignature. According to Wróbel, Donald Tusk, by signing the document, enabled “unconstitutional actions by the President.” We have sent questions regarding the resolution to the Government Information Center.
On Tuesday, the president's decision was published in the Polish Monitor. Andrzej Duda of 17 August 2024 on the appointment of the chairman of the assembly of judges of the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court.
“Pursuant to art. 15 § 3 in connection with art. 13 § 3 of the Act of 8 December 2017 on the Supreme Court (Journal of Laws of 2024, item 622), I appoint the judge of the Supreme Court, Mr. Krzysztof Andrzej Wesołowski, as the chairman of the assembly of judges of the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court electing candidates for the position of President of the Supreme Court directing the work of the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court,” we read.
The document was signed by the president, but also by the prime minister. Donald Tusk.
Judge Wróbel critical
Judge Włodzimierz Wróbel, a Supreme Court judge ruling in the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court, commented on this on Facebook. “At first I was convinced that it was too improbable to be possible. And yet,” the criminal lawyer wrote.
He explained: “When politicians took over the Supreme Court, the President appointed a commissioner from among the neo-judges to conduct the vote for Prof. M. Manowska, whom he had chosen for the position of First President of the Supreme Court. For President Duda's decision to be valid, the consent of the Prime Minister, who was M. Morawiecki, was necessary. Of course, there was no problem with this consent.”
“But today, the same maneuver would be signed by the Prime Minister of the current government, allowing political appointees of the previous government to maintain control over one of the most important parts of the Supreme Court?” he asked.
As we read in the judge's online commentary to the decision, “the president appointed a neo-judge who was illegally appointed to the Court as a commissioner to conduct the election of the President of the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court.” Wróbel wrote that “without the consent of the prime minister and his signature, such an appointment would be invalid and President Duda would not be able to appoint another political nominee to the position of President of this Chamber for the next three years.”
“But the Prime Minister agreed, enabling the President's unconstitutional actions. Restoring the rule of law,” he concluded.
Judges outraged. “It concretes PiS pathology”
This situation and the Prime Minister’s decision to countersign the resolution were commented on by other judges in an interview with OKO.press.
“The situation is a complete surprise. An extremely negative surprise. Firstly, the Prime Minister of the Coalition, together with the President, appoints a neo-judge to any function on 15 October. Secondly, this decision paves the way for the re-election of the neo-judge as the President of the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court. Instead of acting to solve the huge problem with the Supreme Court, Donald Tusk is temporarily concretizing the PiS pathology in the Supreme Court with this countersignature,” said the President of the Association of Polish Judges “Iustitia”, Judge Krystian Markiewicz.
The OKO.press portal explains that “if the prime minister did not give a countersignature, the president would not be able to appoint the chairman of the assembly”. “In such a case, Joanna Misztal-Konecka's term of office would end in September, and the oldest senior judge presiding over one of the (editor's note) departments of the Civil Chamber would take over the duties of the president. However, such a person would only be acting president until the assembly is convened and three candidates are elected by it. Such a scenario assumed that this could happen after a (possible – editor's note) change in the position of the president in 2025. Meanwhile, the prime minister's countersignature paves the way for the election of a new judge as president of the Chamber for the next three years right now” – we read on the portal.
We sent questions to the Government Information Centre regarding the decision. We asked for a comment on the situation and asked, among other things, why the Prime Minister decided to submit a countersignature, since the regulations state that he also had the option to refuse it.
We also asked CIR how it would respond to the critical opinion of Judge Wróbel and other representatives of the judicial community. By the time of publication of the text, we had not received a response.
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