The European Union’s executive has again chided the Polish government over its treatment of the country’s top constitutional court, and is giving Warsaw three months to fix a series of perceived flaws or face sanctions.
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Poland on 22 July had adopted a new law on the constitutional tribunal in an effort to address the outstanding issues raised by the commission.
“Despite the dialogue pursued with the Polish authorities since the beginning of the year, the Commission considers the main issues which threaten the rule of law in Poland have not been resolved”, Frans Timmermans, the deputy head of the European Commission, told a news conference.
Poland’s 1997 constitution gives the tribunal power to block laws approved by parliament and the president, but the PiS -controlled parliament passed laws in December saying that court verdicts must be passed by a two-thirds majority, instead of a simple majority.
“The steps taken by the European Commission before the new law on the constitional court enters into force are clearly premature”, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The Commission is recommending that the Polish authorities take appropriate action to address this systemic threat to the rule of law as a matter of urgency and asks the Polish government to inform the Commission, within three months, of the steps taken to that effect.
Timmermans said in fact “new problematic provisions have been introduced in the legislative process” that raise concerns on how effective a constitutional review can be. The crisis began in October 2015, after Poland’s Civic Platform Party – anticipating it would lose an election – appointed five constitutional tribunal judges, two of whom replaced judges whose terms didn’t expire until after the election.
In a quick reply, the Polish government has said the commission’s move was “decidedly premature ” and the recommendations “expose the commission to losing its authority”.
Timmermans said “integrity, stability, and proper functioning” of Poland’s constitutional court remained at risk. It formally warned Poland on June 1 to reverse the changes so as to remove a “systemic threat” to the rule of law, but said Warsaw had still failed to address the concerns despite further legislative amendments.
The European Commission – the executive arm of the 28-nation EU – also wants the constitutional court’s rulings to be published.
Such quarrels have contributed to a malaise within the European Union and last month’s British decision to leave the group.
The Constitutional Tribunal itself recognized the unconstitutionality of new legislation in its March ruling, which the Polish government refused to publish to prevent the court’s ruling from being considered legally binding.
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The foreign ministry added that the Polish authorities were “determined to restore a stable basis for the functioning of the tribunal”.
