We will never accept narration included in the so-called document presented by an informal body - Poland's Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro said on Thursday. In his view, the opinion on Polish bill on court laws issued by the Venice Commission is a "parody".
- The Venice Commission (VC) on Thursday recommended rejecting amendments to the laws on courts in its current form
- According to the VC the amendments may be seen as further undermining the independence of the judiciary
- The VC claims the influence of the Minister of Justice on disciplinary proceedings is increased further
- The Commission argues the amendment puts judges at risk of facing disciplinary measures for complying with CJEU rulings
- The VC recommends that judiciary council (KRS) members to be nominated by judges, and not the parliament
- The VC suggests change of composition and structure of "super-chambers" in the Supreme Court
- The Commission postulated return to previous method of appointing Supreme Court Chief Justice
Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said on Thursday that "news started to circulate about a document that could be called a parody of Venice Commission's opinion". "It's hard to treat this document seriously and formally," he added.
The minister pointed out that one thing struck him especially, "not as a minister of Polish cabinet, but as a Pole". "What stand out in this document, in my opinion being a parody of an opinion by an international body such as the Venice Commission, is segregation," he explained.
"What the authors of this document are proposing fits into the narration which I had the chance to hear from justice minister of countries of the so-called old European Union. They lectured me, with a sense of superiority and arrogance in tone, that they represented more mature democracy, more civilised citizens of higher legal culture, and therefore their citizens have more privileges than Poles," the minister said.
Ziobro stressed that his "assertive, but firm" reactions to such situations "were always bringing down to earth all ministers and representatives of the European Commission who dared to speak in such tone". "Such lecturing murmur bring back bad memories in Poland," he underscored.
"We will never accept such narration as included in the so-called document presented by an informal body, which visited Poland passing itself as the Venice Commission, and which says that we're not allowed to do things others are," he said. "As Poles we must never allow, and I will not allow anyone to treat us like that," minister Ziobro stressed. "That there are those better, wiser and culturally more mature, and those worse, backward, who should be set aside to the corner," he added.
According to Ziobro, "this argument echoes the most in the so-called document", which he calls "a parody". He added that the said argument was "absolutely unacceptable".
The minister also said that there are countries in which the parliament, or simply the executive, appoint judges. "I'd like to tell all those wisemen, bigheads who come bumptious to Poland: Poland will never succumb this sort of offensive tone," he added.
"In the bin at best"
Minister Ziobro was accompanied one of his deputies - Marcin Warchoł, who also commented on the Venice Commission's opinion. In his view, using double standards, hypocrisy and mendacity were one of the first objections against the document that came to his mind.
"This informal, illegal, unofficial visit coined a para-opinion. A document which fits in the bin at best," he said. Warchoł added that in line with the VC opinion, Poles are treated as sub-citizens of the European Union, who have less rights.
"What's interesting, in the footnotes, we are being placed next to Moldova and Albania. Those are the so-called new democracies, in which legal culture isn't developed enough for the executive or legislative to appoint judges. But of course in old democracies it's very much possible, allowed for the executive to appoint judges," Warchoł said.
He also pointed out that there are no equals and more equals in the international law. "There are no sub-citizens, nor super-citizens. Within the European Union we are all equal," he argued.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP