There has been an attempt to unblock the dialogue between Polish government and the EU commission about the former’s judicial reforms. The Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová, visited Warsaw today to discuss the changes with a number of Polish politicians. Will Jourová’s mission be successful? It is difficult to be optimistic at this stage, especially given the parties she did not meet.
The EU Commissioner had offered her openness for talks even before her trip started. She stated that she favours dialogue with all sides of the issue and will listen carefully to all explanations and remarks about the situation with the continuing judicial reforms in Poland. The Commissioner, Vera Jurova, expressed her concern about some actions against judges in Poland. So far, the dialogue is taking place with some parties being omitted, like the National Council of the Judiciary, the Supreme Court Disciplinary Chamber and the Supreme Court Extraordinary Control and the Public Affairs Chamber, whose presidents asked for meetings, but the European Commission did not agree to hold meetings with them. During the meeting with Elżbieta Witek, the Speaker of the Sejm, Jurova was assured that all the changes are being introduced in accordance with European Union law and with the Polish constitution, while the present government was elected in democratic elections and received the mandate of the voters. One of the election promises was a reform of the judicial system.
Outside the Sejm, Commissioner Vera Jurova met the Minister of Justice, Zbigniew Ziobro, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paweł Jabłoński, president of the Constitutional Tribunal, Julia Przyłębska, the Polish Supreme Court first president, Małgorzata Gersdorf, and the Commissioner for Human Rights, Adam Bodnar.