Poland wants to abolish the disciplinary body, which has been widely criticized by the EU.
(Photo: Reuters)
Warsaw Poland’s Sejm has approved a law abolishing the controversial disciplinary body for judges. This is an important step towards the release of billions in corona aid by the EU Commission. According to the PAP agency, 231 MEPs voted in favor of the draft in the second reading on Thursday, while 208 were against it. There were 13 abstentions. After being passed in the Sejm, the law now goes to the second chamber of parliament, the Senate.
At the beginning of February, President Andrzej Duda announced that he wanted to abolish the disciplinary body, which has been widely criticized by the EU. “We don’t need this dispute,” said Duda at the time. Another body should replace the chamber. Judges suspended in the course of the judicial reform are to be reinstated as required. He wanted to give the government a tool to end the dispute with the commission.
A new “Chamber for Professional Responsibility” is to be set up in place of the controversial Disciplinary Chamber. 33 people are to be drawn at random from among all the judges of the Supreme Court, with the exception of the court president. The President will select eleven judges from each of them for a five-year term.
The draft also provides for the introduction of a review of judges’ impartiality and independence. The EU has blocked corona aid for Poland and only wants to release it if important parts of the judicial reform of the national-conservative PiS government are reversed. This also includes the abolition of the Disciplinary Chamber.
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The introduction of the Disciplinary Chamber was a core part of the 2018 judicial reform in Poland. It can dismiss any judge and prosecutor. In October, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ordered Poland to pay fines of one million euros a day until the chamber is abolished.
In addition, the Chamber of Poland blocked the way to the funds from the reconstruction fund. Before distributing these, the EU Commission must check whether the money in the recipient country is subject to clean, rule-of-law control by the judiciary. However, there is still no law that the EU could use to assess whether the announced changes will meet the requirements.
As early as August, Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is considered the most powerful man in Polish politics, announced that the controversial disciplinary chamber would soon be dissolved because it was not living up to expectations anyway.
More: Poland’s President wants to settle the conflict with the EU