The Court of Justice of the European Union assessed on Monday that Poland has failed to fulfill its EU obligations in connection with the reform of the judiciary carried out by the government. “The government has violated the rules we agreed upon. The Court did not go beyond its remit. He did exactly what he was supposed to do – commented on TVN24 prosecutor Mariusz Krasoń from the Lex Super Omnia Prosecutors Association.
In April 2021 European Commission filed a complaint against Poland to the CJEU, assessing that the amendment to the law on the common courts system, the law on the Supreme Court and some other laws violated EU law.
In the verdict announced on Monday The Court of Justice of the European Union assessed that Poland has failed to fulfill its obligations under the Treaty on the European Union. The judgment stated that the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court “does not meet the requirement of independence and impartiality”, and that the changes made to the Polish judiciary after December 2019 violated EU law.
CJEU on the case of the EC against Poland regarding the 2019 reform of the judiciary. Full judgment announcementTVN24
Krasoń: if the government does not carry out the sentence, Poland will face further penalties
The case was commented on TVN24 by prosecutor Mariusz Krasoń from the Lex Super Omnia Association of Prosecutors. – Now the Polish government is obliged to implement the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union. If he fails to do so, we will face further proceedings before the tribunal and further penalties – he said.
– It’s about EUR 556 million, which translates to about PLN 2.5 billion. This is money that is irretrievably lost by Poland. This is the money that the implementer of changes regarding the judiciary generally took from Polish citizens. They’re gone, they’re gone,” he said.
Mariusz KrasonTVN24
Has the Court gone beyond its remit? The prosecutor answers
Attorney General and Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro said that the Court of Justice of the European Union “encroached on powers it does not have”.
Read also: Judgment of the CJEU on changes in the Polish judiciary. The Minister for European Affairs comments
Mariusz Krasoń assessed that this is a “wrong assumption and results from a complete misunderstanding of the system in which we find ourselves.” – By joining the European Union, by signing the accession treaty, we obtained something like a building permit. According to this building permit, we have the right to implement our own, sovereign decisions, including those regarding the organization of the judiciary. Under one condition, however, that the rules set out in this building permit will be respected, which unfortunately did not happen. This principle is the right of every citizen to an independent, free court, he said.
– If this rule is broken, the Tribunal implemented remedies in the form of temporary measures and imposing financial penalties, then said: please stop this construction, we will consider the case, on Monday the Tribunal examined the case and said: please dismantle this system, because it is incompatible with the adopted our rules,” he added.
“The government has violated the rules we agreed upon. The Court did not go beyond its remit. He did exactly what he was supposed to do, he said.
Main photo source: Krystian Maj/KPRM