President Karol Nawrocki has vetoed the bill concerning the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS). He announced the decision in a statement released today. “The time of politicians in robes must come to an end,” he said in a video posted online.
On January 23, the Sejm passed an amendment to the Act on the National Council of the Judiciary. The bill provided, among other things, that the 15 judicial members of the KRS would be elected in direct and secret elections (organized by the National Electoral Commission) by all judges, rather than, as has been the case until now, by the Sejm.
The Presidential Veto
Today, President Karol Nawrocki announced his decision regarding the bill.
“The constitutional system consists of the rules of the game that determine whether the state serves the citizen, or whether the citizen serves the state. It is these rules that decide whether, in a dispute with an authority, an individual is treated as a partner and guaranteed the enforcement of their rights. If constitutional law is written to serve the interests of a particular government or a narrow group, the ordinary citizen always loses. Sometimes gradually, in the silence of everyday difficulties, and sometimes suddenly, when it turns out there is no one to appeal to and nowhere to seek justice. As President of the Republic, I have a duty to safeguard the Constitution and protect the interests of citizens. The Act on the National Council of the Judiciary does not fulfill this purpose; on the contrary, it contradicts it,”
the president stated in explaining his veto.
“I cannot sign a bill that, under the slogan of restoring the rule of law, in reality introduces a new stage of chaos and opens the door to political influence over judges. The bill introduces segregation among judges and places the justice system in the hands of a political interest group. I firmly oppose dividing judges into better and worse categories, because in reality the government seeks to divide them into ‘ours’ and ‘others.’ In the Polish legal order, there are no ‘neo’ or ‘paleo’ judges. Whether someone is a judge is determined by the Constitution and statutory law. The bill is clearly unconstitutional and could become a tool for removing judges whom the current authorities fear,” he said, emphasizing that “the appointment of judges is the President’s exclusive constitutional prerogative.”
As the president stated, “a court judgment must be like a granite pillar — durable and certain. A citizen must not wake up wondering whether their civil, inheritance, or criminal case will be challenged simply because political decision-makers have decided to determine who may adjudicate and who may not.”
“The dispute over the judiciary is dragging the National Electoral Commission into it, in an attempt to politicize yet another state institution, ultimately. The KRS system in this bill is designed to entrench the National Council of the Judiciary. Bloc voting could allow a single organized political-judicial group to take full control over the selection of judges, excluding any diversity of views within the justice system. If someone wants to conduct political disputes, they should replace the courtroom with the parliamentary chamber. The time of politicians in robes must come to an end,”
he stressed.
In his view, he received “a hastily prepared, widely criticized legal monstrosity, pushed through the Sejm in an extraordinary procedure.”
“In connection with the ongoing deterioration of the justice system, as I previously announced, I am presenting my own draft bill to restore the right to a court and to have a case examined without undue delay, based on three specific principles: the impartiality of courts, the unquestionability of judgments, and confirmation of the status of properly appointed judges,”
he announced.
“The goal is stability and a genuine reduction in the length of proceedings. If proposals for dialogue are rejected, in accordance with my commitment, I will ultimately turn to the nation with a request for a referendum on restoring normality in the functioning of the courts. Let the citizens decide — their voice is always the most important,”
he emphasized.