“In Poland, the legal system must regain its independence in order to comply with EU regulations. However, the right-wing nationalist President Nawrocki opposes the government’s efforts in this regard” writes the German portal tagesschau.de, commenting on the decision of the President of the Republic of Poland to refuse nominations for 46 judges. The text also included an allegation that the amended National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) had appointed “3,000 politically loyal judges.”
President Karol Nawrocki decided not to sign the nominations for 46 judges who, in his opinion, violated the constitutional and legal order of the Republic of Poland. He also announced that he would “not grant promotions (…) to those judges who follow the bad advice of Minister of Justice Waldemar Żurek.”
As established by the portal niezalezna.pl, the president refused promotions for eight judges to the Courts of Appeal and 38 to the District Courts. No assessors are included on the list.
The president’s decision caught the attention of German media. In a text published on tagesschau.de, the following accusation against Karol Nawrocki appears:
“In Poland, the legal system must regain its independence in order to comply with EU regulations. However, the right-wing nationalist President Nawrocki opposes the government’s efforts in this regard”
The Germans assessed that the reason for the president’s decision was a “conflict with Minister of Justice Waldemar Żurek.” They continued:
“Żurek is trying to reverse the changes in the Polish judicial system introduced by the previous right-wing PiS government. Under his government, the new KRS appointed 3,000 politically loyal judges.”
In response, statements from Adam Szłapka, Waldemar Żurek, and Andrzej Zoll were cited, with Zoll asserting that the president “does not have the right to verify judicial nominations.”