In its ruling on Tuesday, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) stated that an irregularity in the appointment of a judge does not, in itself, determine a lack of judicial independence. As the Court emphasized, such situations require an assessment of all the circumstances surrounding the nomination.
This is how the CJEU responded to preliminary questions referred by the District Court for Poznań–Stare Miasto in Poznań. The case concerned the possibility of challenging the status of judges appointed in Poland with the involvement of the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS), as reshaped after 2017.
CJEU Challenges the “Neo-Judges” Narrative
The Court found that the mere involvement of the KRS—operating in its current form following judicial reforms—in the judicial appointment procedure, as well as the lack of an effective legal remedy for candidates who were not recommended, are not sufficient grounds to automatically exclude such a judge from adjudicating cases.
A motion to exclude a judge—based on doubts regarding her independence and impartiality allegedly stemming from flaws in the appointment procedure—was filed before a Polish court by a claimant in a case concerning payment obligations arising from a contract.
The judge presiding over the proceedings stated that, in her view, there were no circumstances that could undermine her impartiality and that there were no grounds for her exclusion. However, the referring court had doubts on this matter and therefore submitted questions to the CJEU.