On the sidelines of the European Summit in Brussels, the Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said that the essential elements of the country's judicial reforms would remain, despite concessions made on them. He added that at the same time, there was every chance that the EU and Poland would reconcile their views and that the Polish stances had been received positively by Jean-Claude Juncker.
On Tuesday 20 March, Warsaw submitted its response to the warnings issued by the European Commission on 20 December concerning the rule of law. The concessions were presented by the PiS party on Thursday 22 March, describing them as “minor”. These draft amendments to the judicial reforms do not, however, feature as such in the response to the Commission. In this response, Poland's official position is unchanged, according to one source, although the Commission is theoretically expected to take it on board.
The Polish concessions in particular concern the remit of the Justice Minister, who had powers to dismiss court presidents without reason. It will now be necessary to request the opinion of the judges. They also concern the retirement age of male and female judges, which will be set at 65 for both.
The Commission plans to go back before the European affairs ministers at the 'General Affairs' Council of April to discuss the question of the rule of law. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)