The Senate committee recommended to whole parliament on Monday to adopt in full the legislation amending laws on the Supreme Court, courts organization, the National Council of the Judiciary and the prosecution. Civic Platform senators demand the rejection of the legislation.
The motion to recommend the Senate the adoption of the legislation in full was proposed after over two-hour debate by the chair of the Human Rights, the Rule of Law and Petition Committee, Law and Justice's Robert Mamątow.
Five senators were in favour, three were against.
The newest legislation was criticised by Civic Platform's senators.
"If this bill goes past the Senate and, God forbid, the President ratifies it, this would mean a completion of the process of subjugating the judiciary to political power in Poland," said senator Bogdan Klich from Civic Platform.
He also added that opposition in the Senate will submit on Tuesday a draft resolution that would "protect the citizens of Poland from consequences that will result from adopting the new legislation".
Deputy justice minister Łukasz Piebiak has been addressing opposition senators' concerns. He said that the latest changes to judiciary laws result from the fact that the number of Supreme Court judges decreased while the amount of work increased.
Furthermore, in his opinion, some judges' associations and civil organizations "have declared their will to paralyze the process of appointing Supreme Court judges."
"Under such circumstances, the decision-maker, in this case the lower house, could either stand and watch the Supreme Court fall or propose solutions that would prevent the Court's paralysis. The MPs have found such a solution and the house approved of it," said deputy justice minister Łukasz Piebiak.
In hasty proceedings on Friday, the lower chamber of parliament approved amendments enabling a swift appointment of a new Supreme Court head. The upper chamber is expected to endorse the new rules as soon as next week and President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, to sign them into law soon afterwards.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: PAP/Paweł Supernak