05/12/2019 (Agence Europe) – The Polish Supreme Court ruled on Thursday 5 December, that the new National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) does not offer guarantees of independence from the political power, Reuters reported. This opinion follows a decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union, which ruled in November that it was up to the Supreme Court to verify precisely this question (see EUROPE 12372/28). “The new KRS does not provide sufficient guarantees of independence from the legislative and executive bodies. The judges of the new KRS have benefited from the changes”, being promoted to important posts, according to Bohdan Bieniek, the judge-rapporteur. “All this indicates that the KRS is dependent on the legislative and executive power”, he stressed. The CJEU had not directly declared this structure incompatible, but had asked the Supreme Court to formulate its interpretation taking into account several specific elements. (SP)