The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has today ruled in favour of a European Commission case against Poland over the independence of its judiciary.
The court in Luxembourg found that a series of laws, introduced by Poland's government in December 2019, which dealt with disciplinary procedures for judges, did "not satisfy the requirement of independence and impartiality" required by EU law.
Known unofficially as the "muzzle law", the 2019 amendments applied to all courts in Poland, and forbade judges from referring cases to the CJEU, and from examining the independence of other judges.
Judges were also required to declare their membership of any political organisation or private association.
The disciplinary procedures fell under the now-defunct Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court, set up by Poland’s ruling right-wing Law and Justice government in 2018.
It operated until last year, at which point Warsaw scrapped the chamber in order to unlock EU funds held by the Commission.
Jakub Jaraczewski, a legal analyst, told RTÉ News that the decision by the court was important, but "too late in large part".
"The disciplinary chamber is already gone. But it’s very important that the court has issued this verdict because it is for the future," he said.
It is the fourth case at the CJEU which the Commission has won against Poland over the independence of the country’s judiciary in recent years.
The CJEU had previously ruled in July 2021 that Poland’s disciplinary procedure for judges did not abide by EU law, and ordered Poland to disband its disciplinary chamber at that point.
In response, Poland's Constitutional Tribunal ruled that decisions by the CJEU involving the Polish judiciary were unconstitutional.
That spurred the CJEU, in October 2021, to order Warsaw to pay the Commission €1 million each day to "to ensure that Poland gave effect to the interim measures set out" in the July 2021 verdict.
The CJEU reduced the fine to €500,000 per day in April this year and those fines stop today on foot of the verdict.
The Commission continues to withhold €36 billion in pandemic recovery funds from Poland over rule-of-law issues.
During its eight years in government, Law and Justice, which is Poland’s largest party, has enacted a number of changes to Poland’s judiciary, such as lowering the retirement age for judges on the supreme court, and providing the minister of justice with more powers to intervene in common courts.
Currently, all 15 judges who sit on the country’s Constitutional Tribunal - a body which overs constitutional law - were appointed by the ruling government.
In another development, the Polish Judges’ Association said last week the so-called "Russian influence" committee could cause the European Commission to bring a further case against Poland.
Law and Justice governs with a minor right-wing coalition partner, Sovereign Poland, led by minister for justice Zbigniew Ziobro.
Mr Ziobro has championed the shake up of Poland’s judiciary since becoming minister of justice in 2015, maintaining that Poland needs to stamp out any remnants from the Communist-era within the judiciary.
"Ziobro claims that he is making sure that Communist-appointed judges are kept in check, and ensuring that judges don't engage in activities outside of purely judicial ones," said Mr Jaraczewski of Democracy Reporting International, a Berlin-based think tank.
Mr Ziobro’s party recently adopted the 'Sovereign’ part of the party’s name in order to, as he said, "say no to those who seek to deprive us of our sovereignty, and consequently of our independence."
Poland’s deputy minister of justice Sebastian Kaleta said on Twitter that the CJEU’s verdict had "once again ruled in its entirety in accordance with the European Commission’s request".
"This is a farce and further proof that no compromises will be respected by the EU," he said.
Mr Kaleta maintained that the terms of the Lisbon Treaty prevent the CJEU from adjudicating on Poland's compliance with the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights.
