Polish government curtails constitutional tribunal's powers
Sejm passed the law despite an appeal by the Council of Europe (Photo: pis.org.pl)
By Eric Maurice
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:25
Poland's
parliament passed a law on Tuesday (22 December) to change the
functionning of the Constitutional Tribunal, in a move that increases
concerns over creeping authoritarianism by the ruling Law and Justice
party (PiS).
Two hundred and thirty five members of the Sejm voted
in favour of the bill, which imposes a two-thirds majority among the 15
constitutional judges, instead of a simple majority, with a quorum of
13 judges instead of nine.
Kaczynski: Constitutional Tribunal is 'band of cronies' (Photo: pis.org.pl)
The
new law also extends from two weeks to three or six months the delay
before which the tribunal can rule on a case which has been refered to
it.
The new law, which has to be confirmed by the upper house
whithin 30 days, is considered as an attempt by PiS, and its leader
Jaroslaw Kaczynski, to put the tribunal under political control and to
free itself from legal checks and balances.
In a written opinion,
the Supreme Court warned that the new law “presages huge potential
delays and, in fact, the paralysis" of the Constitutional Tribunal.
"The systemic position of the tribunal is one of the few guarantees preventing a dictate of the majority," it said.
The vote follows a previous showdown between the tribunal and the government.
In
November, the new government, which was sworn in in October, refused to
confirm the appointment of five judges to the tribunal decided by the
previous government and appointed five new judges instead.
'Band of cronies'
Critics
said the new judges are political appointees and that the procedure
used was unconstitutional. The Constitutional Tribunal itself rejected
the nomination, but president Andrej Duda, a PiS member, like prime
minister Beata Szydlo, swore in the judges anyway.
The new quorum introduced by the law would oblige the tribunal’s president to accept the government’s appointees.
Earlier
this month, Kaczynski said at a meeting that the tribunal is a "band of
cronies" that refused PiS " the right to introduce laws."
Kaczynski,
who was prime minister in 2006, is now only an MP and party chairman
but continues to act as the power behind prime minister Szydlo.
Last
weekend, as the previous weekend, several dozens of thousands people
demonstrated in Warsaw to protest against what they consider as a threat
against democracy.
Poland's political evolution has also raised concerns in Europe.
Earlier
this month, European Parliament president Martin Schulz said that the
showdown with the tribunal amounted to a "coup.” MEPs considered holding
a debate on concerns over the rule of law in Poland, but postponed the
decision.
On Tuesday, before the vote in the Sejm, the president
of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe called on Polish
MPs not to enact - precipitously - legislation relating to the
Constitutional Tribunal which may seriously undermine the rule of law."
“To
propose far-reaching restrictions of the powers of a judicial
institution, whose independence is constitutionally guaranteed, is a
matter which merits in-depth reflection," Anne Brasseur said.
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
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