The European Commission sent a further letter of formal notice to Poland on Thursday 3 December concerning the continued functioning of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court, to which Warsaw will have to reply within a month.
This letter is in addition to a first letter of formal notice sent at the end of April (see EUROPE 12477/1) on legislative changes affecting the judicial system (the ‘muzzle’ law adopted at the end of 2019), but it does not replace the complaints included in the reasoned opinion sent at the end of October (see EUROPE 12593/11) which also concerns this ‘muzzle’ law, it explains.
In this new letter, the Commission considers that Poland is violating Community law by allowing the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court – whose independence and impartiality is not guaranteed – to rule on other issues of direct concern to judges, such as the waiver of immunity to hold judges criminally liable, labour law and social security of Supreme Court judges or the retirement of judges.
“By granting the Disciplinary Chamber powers that directly affect the status of judges and the exercise of their judicial activities, Polish law undermines the ability of the respective courts to provide an effective remedy”, the Commission said. In its view, the mere prospect of judges having to face proceedings before a body whose independence is not guaranteed is indeed likely to affect their own independence.
This letter comes in addition to several offences launched against Warsaw on the issue of the rule of law, which have still not borne fruit. Poland has still not complied with the April ruling by the EU Court of Justice temporarily suspending part of the disciplinary rules for Supreme Court judges (stemming from a previous law adopted in 2017) (see EUROPE 12464/27). This new letter of formal notice may therefore confuse the Commission’s action, which the European Parliament already considers timid. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)