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Justice minister rejects 'corrupt' EU court's ruling against
Poland's judicial reform
Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro on Monday denounced the Court of Justice
of the European Union as 'corrupt' and rejected its ruling that a controversial
Polish judicial reform violated EU law
Issued on: 05/06/2023 - 15:52
Modified: 05/06/2023 - 17:38
Text by: FRANCE 24
The Luxembourg-based court's verdict "was not written by judges but politicians because it constitutes a clear violation of European treaties," Ziobro said, adding that "the European Union's top court is corrupt".
The European Union stepped up its rule-of-law fight with member state Poland on Monday when the bloc's highest court confirmed that Warsaw had refused to comply with EU rules on judicial independence for which it has already lost more than 500 million euros ($535 million) in fines.
The Court of Justice of the EU ruled that Poland's 2019 justice reform infringed EU law after the European Commission, the bloc's executive branch, said that the Polish Supreme Court lacked the necessary independence and impartiality.
“By today's judgment, the Court upholds the Commission's action,” a court statement said.
It was the latest in a streak of setbacks for the nationalist conservative ruling party in Poland, with many Poles furious at what they consider a dramatic erosion of democracy in the country. That sentiment boiled over into a massive anti-government protest in Warsaw on Sunday, probably the largest demonstration in Poland's post-communist era, with an election coming up in the autumn.
Opposition leader Donald Tusk, who had called for the march, estimated that 500,000 Poles turned out.
“Bad news for the government,” declared the conservative Do Rzeczy news portal about the EU court ruling. The state broadcaster, TVP, which acts as a propaganda arm of the ruling party, said that the EU court had overstepped its powers and “attack Poland again. The court exceeds its powers.”
The court decision was, however, welcomed by lawyers and other legal experts who hope it might restore independence to the judiciary.
The EU court argued that “the value of the rule of law is an integral part of the very identity of the European Union as a common legal order and is given concrete expression in principles containing legally binding obligations for the Member States.” It said Poland didn't meet these obligations.
Amid a plethora of condemnation and criticism, the court said that “the measures thus adopted by the Polish legislature are incompatible with the guarantees of access to an independent and impartial tribunal.”
Poland's minister for the European Union, Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk, said that some parts of the ruling were no longer valid or had been abolished.
The court said that Polish law requires judges to divulge membership in an association or party and allows that information to be made public. The court ruling said that the provisions were “liable to expose judges to risks of undue stigmatization.”
The disagreement over the functioning of the Supreme Court is only one of several disputes that the conservative government in Warsaw has with the EU institutions. It claims the bloc is undermining Poland’s inalienable rights to make independent decisions.
The EU institutions have insisted that Poland, under the populist Law and Justice party, has been on a slippery slope away from the EU’s rule of law principles.
Thereby admitting the political bias of the EU.
The dispute centers on the independence of Polish Supreme Court judges when they review EU law.
Only last week, the United States and the EU’s top justice official criticized Polish plans for another law that could keep political opponents from holding public office without full legal recourse. The EU threatened to take measures if it became fully clear such a law would undermine democratic standards.
In the standoff centering on Monday's ruling by the Luxembourg court, Polish authorities already have had to pay about 550 million euros ($588 million) in fines since October 2021, when the system of 1 million euros in daily fines started. The daily fines were halved in April.
In the legal standoff between Brussels and Warsaw, EU authorities are also withholding the release of around 35 billion euros ($37 billion) in pandemic recovery funds.
After the collapse of the Soviet empire, Poland joined the EU along with other Central and Eastern European nations. Since they emerged from autocracy, they were long models for other emerging democracies. Critics now say that Poland and Hungary are slipping again toward one-party authoritarian rule.
Or, perhaps they just don't want to follow the EU down the Garden path. The EU is leading its countries in both godlessness and Islamization. In other words, away from anything resembling Christianity.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)
Hundreds of thousands join protest against Poland's
conservative Law and Justice Party
By Joe Fisher
Leader of main opposition party Civic Platform Donald Tusk and former Polish President and leader of the
Independent Polish Trade Union Solidarity Lech Walesa take part in the '4th June March' in Warsaw, Poland, on Sunday.
Photo by Pawel Supernak/EPA-EFE
June 4 (UPI) -- Opposition party leaders are heading one of Poland's largest protests in Warsaw on Sunday, marching against the conservative Law and Justice party.
People from across the country came out in force on the 34th anniversary of the trade union, Solidarity, defeating the Communist Party in 1989's election. With another election coming this fall, Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski tweeted that Sunday's demonstration may foreshadow the results at the polls.
Trzaskowski estimates that 500,000 people took part in the protest. No official number has been calculated.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk and former President Lech Walesa were among the prominent opposition leaders in attendance, the BBC reports. Walesa was the leader of Solidarity in the 1980s.
The Law and Justice Party has been in power since 2015. In that, critics contest that the party has weakened the country's democracy. It has targeted the rights of marginalized groups like the LGBTQ+ community and restricted reproductive rights, according to The Guardian.
For a country that is strongly Catholic, these are difficult issues. Can abortion access be called a reproductive right? Should it be called an anti-reproductive right? Surely, all women should have the right to not give birth, but that right should end once she is pregnant. There are many ways to avoid pregnancy; there is only one way to avoid birth once you are pregnant, and it is not God-approved!
The Civil Platform, led by Tusk, organized the protest, but other opposition parties were also involved. Protesters called for more trade union representation and rights for the transgender community.
Of the guesstimated 500,000 protesters, it appears not too many were actually celebrating Solidarity or there would be no need to call for more.
Transgender rights are quickly fading across Europe as the UK and Scandinavia have realized that transitioning children is equivalent to child sexual abuse and worthy of very big lawsuits.
The protest also opposes a new law that would allow the government to ban people from serving in public office for 10 years. It also creates a commission to investigate Russian involvement with politics in Poland.
Last week, the European Commission released a statement on the law.
"The European Commission is very concerned by the adoption of a new law in Poland creating a special committee to investigate Russian influence on the internal security of Poland between 2007 and 2022," it said.
"This new law raises concerns that it could be used to affect the possibility of individuals to run for public office, without fair trial."
President Andrzej Duda has proposed making amendments to the law to respond to these criticisms.
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