During Friday's proceedings at the Court of Justice of the European Union regarding the temporary measures taken against Polish Supreme Court law, Poland's representative Bogusław Majczyna and the president of the ECJ Koen Lenaerts presented contradicting standpoints regarding the suspension of provisions of the said law.
The head of the ECJ argued that Poland should have suspended execution of the Supreme Court law provisions immediately after the European Cours't order. Mr Majczyna, however, expressed an opposite view.
The aformentioned ruling was taken by the ECJ on 19 October, when the court acceded to a request from the European Commission and ordered to suspend the provisions in question. In this decision, the ECJ demand, among other things, reinstating the Supreme Court judges forced into retirement.
Majczyna argued that the decision on introducing temporary measures should be revoked. He underscored that implementing the ECJ ruling would require amending the Supreme Court law. He added that the law cannot be suspended with a statement from the government, but changes to the law would be necessary.
Lenaerts disagreed with this opinion. "If the ECJ ruling suspends the existing provisions, no special action is required (amending the law), except for bringing the situation back to the previous state," he said. He added that the suspension of Supreme Court law provision is not a question of Polish law, but rather a consequence of ECJ's decision regarding the temporary measures.
The representative of the European Commission Saulius Kaleda said that Polish law on the Supreme Court violates the rule of irremovability of judges, which is one of the traditional rules common in states observing the rule of law.
"It safeguards the independence of judges. The Commission claims that this rule has been violated, as one third of Supreme Court's judges have been forced to retire by the new law. That included the First President of the Supreme Court whose position is guaranteed by the Constitution," he stressed.
The information about the measures taken to implement the October's order by the ECJ, regarding temporary measures and suspending of Supreme Court law provisions, is to be send to the European Commission on Monday, Polish Press Agency (PAP) has learned from sources close to the Foreign Office.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International, Reuters
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