Poland: New Tusk government wants to reform justice - President Duda faces opposition
The judicial reforms of Poland's new center-left government continue to face resistance from the elected national conservatives. President Andrzej Duda, the last representative of the former ruling party PiS with powers, forwarded the changes of the new government to the National Council of the Judiciary for review to the Constitutional Court. This was announced by Duda's chief of staff Malgorzata Paprocka in Warsaw. She had already described the new regulation as "flagrantly unconstitutional" in July. Without Duda's signature, the law cannot come into force.
The National Council of the Judiciary in Poland nominates judges for vacant positions and protects the independence of the courts. In 2018, the PiS government decided that 15 of the total 25 members of the council would be appointed by parliament - previously, judges determined the majority of the members. This brought Poland into conflict with the EU Commission. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) also criticized that the National Council of the Judiciary was no longer independent.
Meanwhile, the EU has suspended its proceedings against Poland because the new government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk has assured that it will restore the independence of the judiciary. However, the path to this is lengthy and arduous. In the National Council of the Judiciary, judges should in the future again occupy 15 of the 25 seats at their own discretion. The council members appointed since 2017 should not be eligible for election. Duda objects to this: There is no reason to exclude judges from the election based on their appointment date.
The PiS has also influenced the Constitutional Court. Duda bears the responsibility for a crisis in the judiciary by forwarding the reforms to the court, criticized Deputy Justice Minister Arkadiusz Myrcha.
Duda's term of office will end next year. After the PiS's defeat in the October 2023 election, Duda did not organize a smooth transfer of power as a non-partisan president, but rather slowed it down where he could. Nevertheless, his chances of succeeding the aging PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski politically are considered low. Polish media write that the 52-year-old has likely also missed the chance to move to international posts after leaving office with his party loyalty.
Despite Duda's forwarding of the judicial reforms to the Constitutional Court, many argue that the changes are "flagrantly unconstitutional." A key aspect of restoring justice and the independence of the judiciary is ensuring that judges once again have 15 out of 25 seats in the National Council of the Judiciary, as decided by the new government. However, Duda objects to this, claiming there's no reason to exclude judges based on their appointment date.
