The President of the Polish Supreme Court, Malgorzata Gersdorf, defied the authorities on Wednesday 4 July by assuming her post despite the fact that the law on the Supreme Court that entered into force on 3 July obliged her to retire, which the Commission contested by beginning an infringement procedure against Warsaw on 2 July (EUROPE 12053).
The Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, was in Strasbourg to address MEPs (see other article) and provided a lengthy justification for the reforms inspired by his government in the judicial arena. He first of all pointed out that each country should be able to freely organise “its judicial system according to its traditions” and then highlighted the improvements that are expected to be introduced to the Polish legal system which, according to him, was characterised before these reforms by inefficiency and corruption.
He provided assurances that the reforms introduced effectively prohibited judges moving from chamber to chamber on the basis of the different cases, which strengthened transparency. He also said that he was disappointed by the Commission's attitude and questioned its role as honest broker.
Juncker and Timmermans during the debate
Vice President of the Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, said that “I have always admired Poland”. He was officiating during this debate in place of President Jean-Claude Juncker and First Vice President Frans Timmermans, who were, surprisingly, absent from this discussion.
The Polish, however, by very clearly joining the EU, “have also made choices about its values” and therefore respect for the rule of law, “which protects the most vulnerable”. The European Commissioner said that it was impossible to, “ignore these attacks on the rule of law and to say that they are national questions” as the Prime Minister unceasingly said on Wednesday morning. On the question of the law on the Supreme Court, the Commissioner expects “more changes”.
The main political groups in Parliament supported this line, such as Manfred Weber, the German leader of the EPP Group, who promised that the EU would not turn it back on the Polish people and deplored the absence of any responses provided on Wednesday.
The Polish MEP, Ryszard Legutko, a member of the ECR group, cursed the assembly and claimed that it did not want to listen to the real arguments, “Here no one is interested in the future of the EU, what counts is attacking Poland”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)