“I expected today’s visit, and it played out exactly as I anticipated, though I thought he would stay longer and try to speak more,” said Judge Dagmara Pawełczyk-Woicka, Chairwoman of the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS), during an appearance on Telewizja Republika. She was commenting on Tuesday’s remarks made by Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek during the Council’s session. Referring to the threats he directed at judges, she stressed that if the recipients were to take them to heart, the situation in Poland’s judiciary would only worsen.
Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek was present at Tuesday’s meeting of the National Council of the Judiciary. In a statement addressed to the judges, he declared that KRS members are “improperly elected” and that as a result, “every so-called neo-judge in the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court today generates compensation from the State Treasury awarded due to rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).”
“The mere appearance of a so-called neo-judge in the courtroom—regardless of the substantive verdict—triggers this compensation. You, in this composition, bear co-responsibility for creating such posts in the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court through procedures that violate the Polish Constitution,” he charged.
And he threatened: “With full determination, as Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General, I will, by lawful means, seek to ensure that you leave this building.” He then declared he would not participate in the vote, since doing so in the presence of the judges sitting in the chamber was “unacceptable.”
“I Warn the Minister”
Żurek’s remarks were discussed in the program Miłosz Kłeczek Zaprasza, which hosted, among others, KRS Chairwoman Judge Dagmara Pawełczyk-Woicka. “I expected today’s visit, and it played out exactly as I anticipated, though I thought he would stay longer and try to speak more. This statement, slightly shortened by me, was not as lengthy as during the District Court Board session, where he was much more aggressive,” she said.
“Here, he was a calm man. Except for the fact that he refused to shake my hand, or that of other members of the judicial council—it was still polite,” she added.
Responding to Żurek’s claim that voting with KRS judges is “unacceptable,” she reminded viewers that MPs and senators from the ruling coalition, who also sit on the Council, regularly participate in votes.
The Chairwoman also drew attention to Żurek’s call for judges to stop ruling. She emphasized that if this were to happen, delays in the courts would only grow worse.
“I warn the minister not to issue threats, because someone might take them to heart and stop adjudicating,” she declared.
Government Settlements
The KRS Chairwoman also addressed the issue of the alleged need to pay compensation. She stressed that this is “absolutely untrue.”
“There is a ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal […] in which the Tribunal stated that the ECHR cannot decide on the judiciary in Poland, and in particular cannot determine who is a judge,” she said.
“These compensations the minister referred to concern settlements made by the government of the Republic of Poland with selected litigants—parties who had filed complaints with the ECHR on the grounds that a final-instance ruling was issued by a judge appointed in the years 2018–2023,” she explained.
Judge Pawełczyk-Woicka also confirmed that in the past Żurek himself had personally applied to the very KRS he now refuses to recognize for an opinion on his promotion to the Supreme Court.
Referring to the measures Żurek might take against KRS members to force them out of the Council, she said the minister could attempt to “obtain asset seizures as a form of security” against judges’ property. “Of course, these would be illegal and temporary actions, for which the State Treasury would have to pay compensation to those affected,” she underlined.