2023-11-14 22:44:51
Just under a month following the opposition’s election victory, the new majority in the Polish parliament took a first step towards restoring the rule of law. Yesterday, Parliament appointed its four representatives to the National Judicial Council (KRS), responsible for appointing judges and monitoring their independence, replacing members appointed by the right-wing nationalist PiS party.
However, the new appointments only change the majority in the KRS slightly; it is in fact still controlled by PiS members. Before the vote on the new KRS members, the new pro-European parliamentary speaker Szymon Holownia said that given the “damage caused by the PiS in the KRS,” it might take “several months” until it is reformed.
The EU has been at loggerheads with Poland since 2017 over its controversial judicial reform. At that time, the PiS government had, among other things, reformed the KRS. Brussels accused Warsaw of having severely restricted the rule of law. In 2019, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on the reformed Judicial Council that it did not ensure sufficient independence of the judiciary from the government and legislation. A little later, Poland’s highest court ruled similarly.
Central election promise of the Tusk Citizens Coalition
The return to the rule of law is one of the central election promises of former Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s opposition liberal-conservative citizens’ coalition, which secured a majority in the parliamentary election.
Although the PiS became the strongest force on October 15, it is considered unlikely that it will achieve a parliamentary majority. Regardless of this, President Andrzej Duda gave her the order to form a government. The opposition parties are preparing to take over government, but first have to wait for the expected failure of the PiS efforts.
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