The European Commission has finally decided to continue the infringement proceeding launched last April against Poland, and the new “muzzle” law on the disciplinary regime of Supreme Court judges (see EUROPE 12477/1).
On Friday 30 October, the Commission issued a reasoned opinion on this law, which had entered into force on 14 February 2020. It was of the opinion that the Polish law on the judiciary undermines the independence of Polish judges and is incompatible with the rule of EU law, said the statement.
It also prevents Polish courts from directly applying certain provisions of EU law protecting judicial independence and from referring preliminary questions on these matters to the Court of Justice of the European Union. The Polish government will now have 2 months to respond.
As was the case in April, the European Commission continues to believe that the new law, by broadening the concept of disciplinary misconduct, increases the number of cases in which the content of court decisions can be qualified as disciplinary misconduct. The disciplinary system can therefore be used as a form of political control over the content of court decisions.
The Act also gives the new Chamber for Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs of the Supreme Court exclusive competence to rule on questions relating to the independence of the judiciary, which then prevents Polish courts from fulfilling their obligation to apply EU law or to submit preliminary rulings to the Court of Justice of the European Union. The Polish Government had contested this analysis in its first reply and requested that the infringement is closed, said the Commission.
Furthermore, last April, the Commission had obtained a ruling from the Court of Justice to suspend a previous Polish law on disciplinary measures against judges, which entered into force at the beginning of 2019 (see EUROPE 12464/27); however, Poland has since sent several signals contradicting this interim suspension order. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)