Empty docket in Constitutional Tribunal. Billions in EU recovery funds still on hold

For several months now, Poland's Constitutional Court (TK) has been split by a dispute over whether the term of its president Julia Przyłębska has expired. A group of judges believes her term ended in December 2022.

Their refusal to be part of the sittings she presides over has made it impossible to muster the panel of 11 out of 15 judges needed for hearings in the most important cases, which require a full court, to take place.

The impasse has lead to several sittings being postponed in the last few months.

In February, Poland's parliament passed legislation the government hopes will unblock billions in EU funds, but President Andrzej Duda said he doubted the constitutionality of changes to the judicial system and he decided to refer them to the Constitutional Tribunal.

"After several months of deadlock ... we came to the conclusion that it is worth submitting an application to the Constitutional Tribunal," Mateusz Morawiecki said in July.

"If the Constitutional Tribunal decides to consider our application, its decision will be final and may mean that a lower number of judges will be needed to constitute a full court."

The TK was supposed to look into the prime minister's motion on July 13, but was then postponed several times. The last scheduled date was on Sept. 27 and no new time has been proposed since then.

As of today (Oct. 20), the docket sheet at the Constitutional Tribunal remains completely blank.

Professor Andrzej Zoll, a former president of the TK and Poland's former ombudsman, told TVN24 that the Tribunal is "a cornerstone of the legal order".

"If we don't sort out issues related with the Constitutional Tribunal, it will be very hard for us to establish a legal order that would be in line with the constitution," Prof. Zoll added.

Warsaw is embroiled in a long-running row with the European Union over reforms that critics say undermine the independence of the courts.

Brussels has withheld 35.4 billion euros ($39 billion) in COVID-19 recovery funds and has required reform on issues such as judicial independence and green energy before releasing the cash.

It has also said it is withholding billions in cohesion funds from the EU budget until the dispute over the judiciary is resolved.

According to PiS, the new bill on the Supreme Court was supposed to meet the crucial "milestone" set out by the EU Commission, but Polish opposition and many jurists say the proposed legislation is insufficient to solve to dispute.