The European Commission decided on Tuesday 14 January to ask the EU Court of Justice to require Warsaw to take urgent interim measures to suspend the new disciplinary regime concerning Polish judges who criticise the reforms, Jobs and Social Rights Commissioner Nicolas Schmit announced in Strasbourg.
This decision was taken by the College and is intended to ask the Polish authorities to put an end, temporarily, to all disciplinary proceedings brought against judges by the Disciplinary Chamber, while the Court of Justice looks more generally at this judicial reform launched by the PiS party.
On Monday 13 January, the Commission refused to confirm that the item would be on the College's agenda, but indicated that it could put it on the agenda on the same day. In December, Commissioner Didier Reynders had already indicated that he was open, in principle, to these new provisional suspension measures. The Commission's request is part of an ongoing infringement procedure (see EUROPE 12346/17) and the referral of this new regime to the EU Court of Justice in Warsaw last October.
"The decision was taken in the light of recent developments, including a preliminary ruling of the Court of Justice of 19 November 2019 on the independence of this new disciplinary chamber and the subsequent decision of the Polish Supreme Court of 5 December", the Commission explained.
"In its ruling, the Supreme Court stated that the disciplinary chamber does not meet the requirements of EU law on judicial independence and is therefore not an independent tribunal within the meaning of EU and national law. Despite the judgments, the Disciplinary Chamber continues to function", which "creates a risk of irreparable damage for Polish judges".
The Parliament is debating the rule of law in Poland on Wednesday. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)