The conclusion of the experts is that we should not fill the positions that will soon become vacant in the Constitutional Tribunal – said the Speaker of the Sejm Szymon Hołownia. He added that the Constitutional Tribunal will have to be “repaired after the presidential elections next year”. – Until then, we will be in dispute with the Constitutional Tribunal – he stated.
On Tuesday, the Senate held meeting with the participation of experts and constitutionalists under the slogan “Ways out of the constitutional crisis”. The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Speaker of the Sejm, Speaker of the Senate Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, as well as the head of the Ministry of Justice Adam Bodnar.
On Wednesday, Hołownia, referring to Tuesday's debate at a conference before the beginning of the Sejm session, stated that the conclusion from it is not to fill vacancies in the Constitutional Tribunal after the terms of office of some of the current judges have ended.
– I wondered whether we should fill the positions that will soon become vacant in the Tribunal, and the conclusion of the experts is that we should not (…). Even if by some miracle there were people willing to work with Julia Przyłębska in the Constitutional Tribunal and be a minority there, do not fill them, do not enter this poisoned source, wait until we can solve this matter systemically – said the Marshal of the Sejm.
The terms of office of three Constitutional Tribunal judges expire in December: Piotr Pszczółkowski, Mariusz Muszyński and Julia Przyłębska, while the term of office of judge Zbigniew Jędrzejewski ends in April 2025.
Hołownia reminded that the Sejm will vote on Friday on the Senate's amendments to two bills reforming the Constitutional Tribunal, including changing the procedure for electing judges of the Tribunal and repealing the currently applicable laws relating to the functioning of the Tribunal. – I have no major illusions as to what the president can do with these laws, but our duty as the Sejm is to move forward, do our job, pass laws, and what the president wants to take on his conscience is his problem – said Hołownia.
“Until then, we will be in dispute with the Constitutional Tribunal”
Asked about the future of the Constitutional Tribunal, he said that the Constitutional Tribunal will have to “be repaired in a natural way after the presidential elections” in 2025. According to Marshal Hołownia, three Constitutional Tribunal judges: Stanisław Piotrowicz, Krystyna Pawłowicz and Julia Przyłębska will issue protective orders in various cases. As he said, these judges will “continue to think that they are spinning the globe and that they are sitting in a control room where you can switch off the Sejm here, switch off the Prime Minister there and do other various things”. – You can't forbid them from doing this, unfortunately we finance them from our taxes, but oh well – added the Marshal.
– We have come a long way in destroying the Tribunal by the previous majority (in the Sejm – ed.). This Tribunal will naturally have to be repaired after the election of the president, or the female president – God willing – next year. Until then, we will be in dispute with the Constitutional Tribunal – said Hołownia.
Hołownia: I assume that the prime minister meant restoring the rule of law
He also referred to the Prime Minister's statement at Tuesday's conference “Ways out of the constitutional crisis”. Tusk spoke, among other things, about the “need to act in these categories of fighting democracy”
Hołownia said that although he did not know what the prime minister had in mind exactly, he tentatively assumed “that he meant the fight to restore the rule of law in Poland, that he meant that we have to work from morning till night to make sure that all this goes in the right direction.”
Hołownia: I assume that the prime minister meant restoring the rule of law TVN24
– He did not mean any internal conflict – I do not believe it – he did not mean any civil war, a fight of one faction against another, because today we need cooperation and we need (…) unity, not uniformity. That we come to an understanding on matters when someone else wants to harm us. I understand that this is a declaration of a strong, hard political fight and I will support the Prime Minister very strongly in this – he said.
Kaczyński: Tusk is abolishing the law
PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński, commenting on the Prime Minister's words in the Sejm, assessed that “Donald Tusk is carrying out an act of abolishing the law”.
– I hope he will answer for this and it will be very, very hard. However, when we take over power, we will face a very serious problem of renewing the constitution, renewing the law and it will be a huge reform – he announced.
Tusk, speaking about the constitutional crisis at Tuesday's conference, assessed that the last eight years of PiS rule “have truly devastated the system, and not even in a black and white way, because we are all drowning in shades of grey, in these interpretative gaps”. – Everyone has, in a sense, every right and every right to express their own opinions, which are contrary to the opinions of others, about what should be done and what should not be done. I am talking about personal discomfort related to countersignature issues – he pointed out.
The Prime Minister emphasized that every day he encounters situations in which he has tools at his disposal that “do not provide the possibility of repairing reality”. – I am talking about legal tools prepared by predecessors whose intention was to destroy this order (constitutional – ed.), and not to strengthen or build it. So as a historian, in my opinion, I can probably safely risk the thesis that today we have a need to act in these categories of fighting democracy – he assessed.
As he announced, he will make decisions “with full awareness of the risk that not all of them will meet the criteria of full rule of law from the point of view of purists – in the good sense of the word.”
Tusk: I will make decisions, not all of which may meet the criteria of full rule of law from the point of view of puristsTVN24
Kotula: citizens are interested in courts operating quickly and effectively
On Friday, the head of government and the Minister of Justice, the Prosecutor General met with representatives of the legal community on the process of restoring the rule of law in Poland. One of the issues discussed was solving the problem of neo-judges, i.e. judges who were appointed to adjudicate on the recommendation of the politicized National Council of the Judiciary, changed during the PiS government.
– What is most important in this project, which was presented by the Ministry of Justice – which is largely consistent with what the Codification Commission of the Judiciary and Public Prosecutor's Office says – is the recognition that among the judges appointed after 2018, we have three groups – said Bodnar.
Bodnar: You can't put all the new judges in one bagTVN24
The assumptions of the act on restoring constitutional order in the judiciary were learned by Michał Tracz, a reporter for “Fakty” TVN.
Minister for Equality Katarzyna Kotula (Left), referring to the announced changes, said that “today, a potential citizen is primarily interested in it being quick and effective, so that this citizen does not have to wait for months or even years for the courts to deal with their cases.”
– And today there may be such a moment when some citizens, because I think it depends on the electorate, we can talk about it, but some citizens do not want to hear about how, they only want to know when it will happen, how effective it will be and to what extent this potential citizen will benefit from it – she added.
Main image source: Leszek Szymanski/PAP