Poland’s Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro struck back at the European Court of Justice’s attempts to overturn Polish judicial reforms this week, branding the court as institutionally corrupt and unfit to rule on national affairs.
Warsaw has locked horns with the EU in recent years over legislation to revamp the country’s judicial system. The new law removes the right of judges to criticise colleagues and establishes a legal mechanism to discipline judges over unfair rulings.
The European Court of Justice ruled against the Polish government Monday, June 5th, saying that the reforms represented an attack on judicial independence. Polish Deputy Prime Minister Sebastian Kaleta responded by labelling the ruling a “farce.”
Ziobro, the primary architect behind the legal overhaul which was signed into law in 2020, said that similar laws were commonplace around the world and that the EU’s top court didn’t have the “competence to decide on the judicial system in the member states.” Ziobro went on to cite examples of corruption within the Court that has repeatedly been accused of bias and of exceeding its brief.
Similar to Hungary, Poland has faced institutional harassment from the EU and is now facing a potential €557 million in fines from the EU Commission for sticking to its guns on judicial reform.
Liberals claim the reforms represent a consolidation of power by the ruling Law and Justice Party. The Polish government rebuked these claims, saying that outside powers are attempting to subvert the country.
The war in Ukraine forced both the EU and Poland to temporarily bury the hatchet over the dispute, but this week’s ruling has the potential to reignite an issue that demonstrates the growing hostility from Brussels towards conservative member states.
The drama occurs as Poland is gearing up for parliamentary elections later this year, with pro-European forces attempting to topple the conservative Law and Justice administration. Law and Justice and many conservative commentators accuse outside forces of weaponising domestic issues to undermine Polish democracy. Most recently, Poland came under fire for newly debuted anti-Russian legislation which liberals fear could be turned against anti-government critics.
Meanwhile, an estimated half a million anti-government protestors rallied in Warsaw over the weekend and were addressed by the leader of the liberal opposition and former EU Council President Donald Tusk in speeches denouncing the ruling government.
