He Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has once again condemned Poland on Monday for violating the independence of judges. The ruling states that the reform of the Polish judicial system carried out by the radical right-wing government of Law and Justice in December 2019 violates community law.
The ruling agrees with the Commission on Ursula von der Leyen, which filed an action for non-compliance against Warsaw as a result of this reform. Specifically, Brussels denounced that the reform introduces a disciplinary regime that allows ordinary judges to be subject to investigations, procedures and disciplinary sanctions on the basis of the content of their judicial decisions.
Sanctions rested ultimately with the Disciplinary Chamber of the Polish Supreme Court, whose independence and impartiality are not guaranteed because its judges were appointed by the Polish Judicial Council, which in turn is “politically” elected by the Polish Parliament, according to the evaluation of the Community Executive.
[El TJUE multa a Polonia con 1 millón al día hasta que disuelva la Sala Disciplinaria para jueces]
In addition, the reform prohibits all national courts from verifying compliance with the requirements of the Union regarding the independent and impartial tribunal previously established by law and classifies said verification as a disciplinary offense. The competence is attributed exclusively to the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs of the Supreme Court.
Finally, the Commission maintains that the reform violates the right to respect for private life and the right to protection of personal data, since it imposes on judges the obligation to communicate information about their activities in associations or foundations, as well as about your political affiliation in the past and arranges for the publication of that information.
In its ruling on Monday, the Court of Justice upheld the Commission’s appeal in its entirety. However, the ruling has the paradoxical consequence of temporarily ending the daily fines for non-compliance, which have cost Warsaw more than 500 million euros.
This sanction (which amounted to a million euros a day) was imposed in October 2019 by the vice president of the CJEU as a precautionary measure to force Poland to dissolve the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court. On April 21, the CJEU reduced the fine to 500,000 euros per day, considering that the counter-reform carried out by the Government of Law and Justice to access European funds (which abolished the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court) corrected some of the problems detected, but it was insufficient.
In any case, the publication of the final ruling on the case means the end of these daily fines because it is a precautionary measure. However, the Commission can still ask the CJEU to sanction Poland if it considers that it is in breach of the judgment. The Community Executive approved in June 2022 the Polish recovery planendowed with 35,400 million euros, but for the moment you haven’t made any payment yet considering that the milestones required in terms of judicial independence have not been met.
In its judgment of this Monday, the CJUE indicates that the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court “does not satisfy the requirement of independence and impartiality”. The fact that the judges run the risk that this Chamber may rule on issues relating to their statute and the exercise of their functions “may affect their independence”.
All these judicial reform measures “are incompatible with guarantees of access to an independent courtimpartial and previously established by law”, continues the ruling.
Also the exclusive attribution to the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs of the Supreme Court of jurisdiction to verify compliance with the essential requirements of effective judicial protection is contrary to Union Law.
For the CJEU, “compliance with these requirements must be guaranteed transversally in all material areas of application of Union law and before all national courts that hear matters included in said areas”. The exclusive jurisdiction granted to this Chamber “could further weaken the fundamental right to effective judicial protection enshrined in Union law”.
Finally, the European justice system points out that “national provisions that oblige judges to submit a written statement indicating their membership in an association, non-profit foundation or political party and that provide for the online publication of that information violate the fundamental rights of these judges to the protection of personal data and respect for private life“.
