A complaint against Poland formulated by the European Commission regarding the recently adopted disciplinary measures for judges has reached the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The EU Commission requested proceeding the case under an expedited prodecure.
The EU executive informed on October 10, that it had referred a complaint to the ECJ "to protect Polish judges from political control". The Commission argued that the new disciplinary system did not guarantee independence and freedom of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court, composed solely of judges appointed by the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS), which in turn, was appointed by the Sejm (lower house of parliament) under a political procedure.
Officials in Brussels claim that the Polish judicial system does not guarantee proceeding cases within "reasonable time", which allows the justice minister - through disciplinary spokespersons appointed by him - to launch long-lasting disciplinary proceedings against common court judges. The new system, the EC claims, affects the common courts judges' right to defend themselves.
The expedited procedure allows the ECJ to quickly deliver rulings "in cases of real urgency", by shortening deadlines, assigning such cases absolute priority, and by skipping certain stages of the normal procedure.
The motion filed by the EC will be followed by Poland's argumentation and opinion of the ECJ Advocate General, and only then the chairman of the court will decide whether or not launching expedited procedure is justified. The decision should be made within a few weeks. Under expedited procedure, the case itself may last a few months instead of even two years.
In the case pertaining to the Polish Supreme Court an expedited procedure was also launched. The complaint was filed in October 2018, and the verdict was passed in June 2019.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP
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