The first meeting of the National Council of the Judiciary with new representatives of the Sejm will take place on Tuesday. In the previous term, only PiS politicians sat on the council. Now the MPs have elected four politicians from the former democratic opposition. “The illegal 15 will remember this meeting for a long time,” wrote Kamila Gasiuk-Pihowicz, a member of the neo-KRS on behalf of the Civic Coalition.
November 14 After a heated debate, the Sejm elected members of the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) on behalf of the Sejm. These are the candidates of the former democratic opposition – Kamila Gasiuk-Pihowicz (246 votes of support) and Robert Kropiwnicki (243) from the Civic Coalition, Tomasz Zimoch (246) from Poland 2050 and Anna Maria Żukowska (245) from the New Left.
The candidates of the PiS club – Marek Ast (193 votes), Arkadiusz Mularczyk (192), Kazimierz Smoliński (192) and Bartosz Kownacki (191) lost in the vote. In the previous term, the seats in the National Council of the Judiciary for representatives of the Sejm were occupied only by PiS MPs.
The first meeting with new representatives of the Sejm
The first meeting of the National Council of the Judiciary with new representatives of the Sejm will be held on Tuesday, November 21. “The illegal 15 will remember this meeting for a long time,” wrote Kamila Gasiuk-Pihowicz on the X platform (formerly Twitter).
– I think this will be a meeting in which we will emphasize that we are starting to rebuild the rule of law. These people will face reality, which is that they hold their positions illegally, depriving Poles of the right to independent courts, free from political influence. They are also depriving Poles of funds from the KPO, which we are all waiting for, the MP later said, referring to her entry.
– We have a meeting with the Marshal regarding this first meeting of the still illegal National Council of the Judiciary – she added.
Piotr Gąciarek, judge of the District Court in Warsaw, was asked in the “Tak jest” program about the intentions of the new members. – I have no contact with politicians, so I don’t know, but I think that the new members of the democratic majority will demonstrate their opposition and lack of consent to further substantive work of this pseudo-body. I’m curious what might happen, but the sooner this discussion club ends its activities, the better for all of us, said the judge.
Judge Gąciarek on the meeting of the neo-National Council of the Judiciary: MPs will demonstrate their oppositionTVN24
Politicized National Council of the Judiciary
The National Council of the Judiciary is a constitutional body that “guards the independence of courts and judges”, and its main task is to give opinions and present to the president candidates for appointment to the positions of judges in Poland.
The procedure for selecting four members of the National Council of the Judiciary from among the deputies was carried out in accordance with applicable law, but legal doubts are raised by the body itself, the National Council of the Judiciary, formed in accordance with the laws amended by Law and Justice. According to many experts, it is politicized because its 15 judges are appointed by politicians.
Gasiuk-Pihowicz: these are the first steps we have taken towards the rule of lawTVN24
Gasiuk-Pihowicz, one of the elected members of the neo-National Council of the Judiciary, told TVN24 that work is underway to depoliticize the body. – Four representatives of the Sejm were elected to the National Council of the Judiciary in accordance with the constitution. In a moment, two more Senate members will be elected, and in a moment there will also be another new member of the National Council of the Judiciary, i.e. the Minister of Justice, and these are the first steps we are taking towards the rule of law, the next steps are ahead of us – she said in “Fakty po Faktach”.
Main photo source: Fakty TVN