The Court of Justice of the European Union will once again examine the issue of the appointment of Supreme Court judges during the rule of the United Right government. The hearing in Luxembourg is to concern judicial nominations as well as the functioning of the leadership of the Supreme Court. The opposition and legal experts openly speak of yet another unlawful interference by EU institutions in Poland’s constitutional system.
Another Interference in Polish Law
On Monday, a hearing will take place before the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg concerning the method of appointing Supreme Court judges during the rule of the Law and Justice (PiS) government after 2017. EU judges intend to decide whether individuals appointed through a specific nomination procedure may sit on judicial panels and hold leadership positions within the institution.
The proceedings were initiated back in 2018 by Waldemar Żurek, a judge of the Regional Court in Kraków, who currently serves as Minister of Justice. His allegations concern, among other things, the nominations of judges made upon the recommendation of the National Council of the Judiciary, formed under the Act of 8 December 2017. The Court is to determine whether judges appointed through this procedure may adjudicate in the Supreme Court and hold leadership positions such as First President of the Supreme Court, president of a chamber, or head of a division.
The hearing in Luxembourg will also address the issue of appointing judicial panels in the Supreme Court. The CJEU intends to assess whether individuals holding administrative functions within the Supreme Court, who themselves were appointed through the disputed nomination procedure, may decide on the composition of judicial panels and whether such panels meet the criteria of impartiality and judicial independence.
Additionally, on the docket is the issue of a Supreme Court judge refusing to participate in a judicial panel if they consider that the majority of its members were appointed in a manner inconsistent with the law.
For years, figures on the political right have argued that EU bodies are increasingly attempting to encroach upon the competences of the constitutional organs of member states. Such actions, they claim, have no justification in the Treaties or in the practice of the EU’s functioning since its inception. Are we therefore witnessing another stage in the stripping away of the sovereignty of nation-states in the name of ideological whims?