Polish ruling party wants to punish critical judges

Poland's ruling conservative party has proposed a law to punish judges who question the government's controversial judicial reforms, with the opposition calling the bid an "attempt to gag" critical magistrates.

The proposal presented late Thursday includes sanctions up to the exclusion of judges who question the legality of the nomination of another judge as well as for activities of a political nature or those considered harmful to the functioning of the judicial system.

The text presented by lawmakers of the ruling Law and Justice party PiS also "considers the possibility of removing judges who would question the national judicial council or the prerogatives of the president," said PiS deputy Jan Kanthak.

 

Since taking office in 2015, the right-wing PiS has introduced a slew of controversial judicial reforms that it insists are designed to tackle corruption.

But critics including top European judicial bodies argue they pose a threat to judicial independence and the rule of law.

The proposed law comes after the Polish Supreme Court ruled on December 5 that the new judicial council charged with nominating and disciplining judges lacks independence, calling into question the government's court reforms.

The European Union Court of Justice (CJEU) last month had asked Poland's Supreme Court to rule whether the new KRS judicial council and a disciplinary chamber introduced as part of the PiS's reform drive were free from political influence.

Poland's top court concluded that their independence was not guaranteed.

According to the opposition, the main objective of the proposed law is to ban judges from following the decisions of the EU and Polish courts.

"This scandalous proposed law which gags judges is a new step towards Poland leaving the European Union," said Boris Budka, deputy from the opposition Civic Platform.

"These are the actions of authoritarian countries, an attempt by the PiS to subordinate the courts," he added in a tweet.

The European Commission has accused the Polish government of threatening to undermine principles like the rule of law and judicial independence that it signed onto in 2004 when Warsaw joined the EU.

In late 2017, the EU launched unprecedented proceedings against Poland over "systemic threats" posed by the reforms to the rule of law that could see its EU voting rights suspended.