The government, the Sejm and the Senate should produce a legislation that would remove the faulty regulations, existence of which has been confirmed by the EU Court's ruling - the First President of the Supreme Court Małgorzata Gersdorf said on Tuesday in her statement.
"The ECJ has issued a key verdict for the Polish judiciary, assessing the introduced changes, but also very important and fateful for the whole European Community, the European system of values," President Gersdorf stressed in her statement.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on November 19 that it is up to Poland’s Supreme Court (SN) to decide if a newly-created disciplinary chamber is independent, and therefore establish whether or not it should be settling disputes regarding the retirement of supreme court judges.
According to Poland's Chief Justice, although it's up to the Supreme Court to assess independence of the Disciplinary Chamber, "passing appropriate rulings by the SN, even if done without any delay, will require time, and it won't be happening day by day, nor week by week".
"In order to prevent legal uncertainty, or even legal chaos, from happening, the government, the Sejm and the Senate should produce a legislation that would remove the faulty regulations, existence of which has been confirmed by the Court in Luxembourg. It's necessary for the condition of the rule of law in Poland, stability of which has been undermined for quite a long time now, as a result of introduced changes," Gersdorf said.
She added that "solutions must be worked out that would spark a process of restoring trust in the KRS and the courts, starting with the Supreme Court". "This must be done for the benefit of Poland and the Poles," Polish Chief Justice underscored.
"We're calling upon those judges who had been appointed by the request of the currently functioning National Council of the Judiciary to refrain from issuing verdicts," said the chairman of the Polish Judges Association "Iustitia" Krystian Markiewicz, commenting on the ECJ's ruling.
He stressed that "the benefit of the citizens is more important than some private need for passing verdicts". "This would be a mature decision by judges, to refrain from performing any duties until this matter has been finally dealt with by the Supreme Court," he argued.
The chairman of "Iustitia" also argued that judges who had been chosen to sit in the new KRS should immediately hand in their resignations. "This would help to restore order in the Polish justice system," he said.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP