Jourova for TVN24: Polish gov't is strongly determined to fix harm done to its judiciary system

Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova has been visiting EU member states to discuss preparations for June's election to the European Parliament. On Thursday she came to Warsaw where she met with Poland's Justice Minister Adam Bodnar.

Later that day, Jourova told TVN24 more about her visit. She spoke commented on Donald Tusk's government's efforts to restore the rule of law in Poland. "Well, we saw that reforms of the judiciary system in Poland did not lead to bigger trust of people in judiciary, or quicker procedures, or improving of the feeling that there is insitutionally guaranteed fairness. We didn’t see anything like that. That’s why I’m glad that the action plan presented by Adam Bodnar contains very realistic steps to improve the judiciary system, to increase indpendence of judges, to create new national council for the judiciary," she said.

"The action plan, in my view, is realistic and I see very strong determination from the side of the current government to correct things which, in my view, were wrong in the past. It’s very important that this is happening because, I will tell you, the whole saga of the rule law being under threat in Poland, it also caused a lot of strange feeling among the partners, among the members states," Jourova noted.

"And I’m really glad that by correcting things, Poland can have a stronger voice, also internationally. Now is the time when we need strong Poland, especially in light of the war that is in the neighborhood," she added.

"I think that reforms which Adam Bodnar is proposing might lead to good result relatively soon, in relatively quick time."

Jourova was also asked whether the ongoing reforms of the judiciary and the government's action plan in that regard could lead to end of the Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union launched against Poland.

She replied that it could happen "if we will see real progress". "We want to see advanced stage of the legislative process. We want to see the laws that address the issues being in the Sejm, being discussed with the stakeholders because the process is also important".

"Then we will assess the level of the progress at some point and we will have to consider whether it's not time to conclude the Article 7," Jourova explained.

"So, the ball is on the Polish playground, a difficult playground, a difficult game, and we will, of course, be supportive over the process, but there are things to be done in Poland. Adam Bodnar knows that he can rely on our objective assessment and we will do our best to support Poland, but again, we have to wait for some real progress," EU Commission vice president stressed.

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