A pan-European rights body on Friday accused Poland’s conservative government of undermining democracy by crippling its top court, a move that could put Warsaw on a collision course with the EU.
While the opinion of the rights body is non-binding, it will carry weight at the EU Commission, which has begun a process to monitor the rule of law in Poland that could end up in Warsaw being suspended from voting in the EU. The EU Commission said it would review the rights body’s opinion in April.
After sweeping to power in October last year, Poland’s euroskeptic Law and Justice (PiS) party enacted a law increasing the number of judges at the constitutional court required to make rulings and changing the order in which cases are heard.
The court itself has said the new rules are illegal, effectively putting the changes in limbo.
“A high attendance quorum, the requirement of a two-thirds majority for adopting judgements and a strict rule making it impossible to deal with urgent cases, notably in their combined effect, would have made the [constitutional court] ineffective,” the Venice Commission, an advisory panel to the Council of Europe, said in a statement. “Therefore, these amendments would have endangered not only the rule of law, but also the functioning of the democratic system.”
A Polish government official said that after the Venice Commission adopted its findings, Warsaw would respect its views, but gave no details on what Poland would be willing to change in its top court reform, if anything.
Domestic critics say the legal changes have made it difficult for judges to review, let alone challenge, the government’s legislation. The EU and the US have also expressed concerns.
On Wednesday, the constitutional court ruled that the new rules affecting it were illegal. The government then accused the court of playing politics.
The Venice Commission’s representatives told reporters that the government needs to recognize Wednesday’s court verdict as a prerequisite to solving the constitutional crisis.
PiS officials have been defiant so far, however, with PiS calling a leaked draft of the opinion “legally absurd.”
They also appear to have public support, with the latest poll putting them on 37 percent support, almost 20 points ahead of the opposition and little changed from their showing in the October election.
“Democracy is in very good shape — there are demonstrations, meetings, protests,” senior PiS official Beata Kempa told public broadcaster TVP Info. “We are not sending in police with bullets against people, they are allowed to express their views.”
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