The president is going on a rampage. Nawrocki's project is at risk of a judicial earthquake
It has been known for a long time that the reform of the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) prepared by the Ministry of Justice has little chance of being signed by the president. There is no surprise here. The presidential veto was only the formal conclusion of a scenario that had been in the making for months.
Moreover, this is the second act of the coalition on October 15 regarding the National Council of the Judiciary that ended up in the legislative bin. The first amendment, prepared when the Ministry of Justice was headed by Adam Bodnar, was questioned by the Constitutional Tribunal at the request of Andrzej Duda.
However, the real shock was caused by Karol Nawrocki's counter-project. The law presented under the noble name “on the restoration of the right to a court and hearing of cases without unjustified delay” is not an attempt at dialogue, but a brutal attack on the courts. As a result, there is no chance of restoring the rule of law.
There is a long way to go to repair the National Court Register
After the presidential veto of the bill that was to restore the right of judges to elect members of the Council, There is no hope for a quick compromise, and the clock is ticking. The term of office of the current National Council of the Judiciary ends on May 12 this year. This means that the next elections will most likely be held on the basis of the disputed, but applicable regulations.
Thanks to the announcement of the Speaker of the Sejm, Włodzimierz Czarzasty, the procedure has already started. According to it, judges and members of the National Council of the Judiciary are selected by the Sejm from among candidates proposed by a group of at least 25 active judges or 2,000. citizens. The Sejm, i.e. politicians.
Judges associated with former Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro have already announced their candidacy, including: Łukasz Piebiak. The candidates are promoted by Dagmara Pawełczyk-Woicka, current chairwoman of the National Council of the Judiciary. It appeals to citizens to get involved in the elections.
The ruling coalition, including Waldemar Żurek, the Minister of Justice, is talking about plan B. They want to choose 15 candidates for members of the National Council of the Judiciary from among judges in the primary elections, which will then be approved by the Sejm, as stipulated in the applicable law. The opposition criticizes this idea.
Are we facing a new neoKRS?
However, it does not really matter whether the candidates are chosen by judges or citizens. The effect will be the same. Ultimately, they will be elected by the Sejm, and the next National Council of the Judiciary will be exactly the same neo National Council of the Judiciary as the current one. The composition will be different, because the Sejm majority is different than four years ago, but chosen by politicians, according to the same principles.
The new National Council of the Judiciary will nominate judges for nomination to the president. However, Karol Nawrocki was born on August 6 in his inaugural address, he declared that he would nominate “those judges who respect the constitutional order in accordance with the constitution and laws adopted by the Polish Parliament and signed by the president. This is how I imagine the legal order of the Polish state.”
He will not promote or nominate judges who violate the constitutional legal order of the Republic of Poland. Everything indicates that he will recognize as such the candidates indicated by another defectively elected National Council of the Judiciary. The matter may be made easier for him by MPs, provided that the new National Council of the Judiciary includes judges from one association.
Chaos in the courts may therefore be even greater. Neither the president nor the coalition cares about cooling emotions or compromise.
The president claims that he vetoed the politicization of the National Council of the Judiciary. Włodzimierz Czarzasty believes that he vetoed the rule of law.
Read also: The Palace has the upper hand? Judge Kozielewicz assesses Minister Żurek's project regarding the National Council of the Judiciary
Attack on judges
At the same time, however, the president presented a draft law “on the restoration of the right to a court and hearing of cases without unjustified delay.” It's been a long time since any legislative initiative aroused such extreme emotions.
The Marshal of the Sejm says directly that “the president's bill violates judicial independence and the constitutional separation of powers. This is a law that forces judges to do various things under penalty of up to 10 years in prison.” That is why he will ask the Venice Commission for its opinion.
No wonder, because the project seems like an attack on judges. His analysis shows that we are dealing with an attempt to close the system using tools that make people shudder in a state of law. These are no longer just procedural changes, they are a systemic trap for unruly judges.
Firstly, the project introduces absolute prohibition of questioning constitutional competences of state bodies and the legality of appointments.
Secondly, it provides that “willful refusal to administer justice” – understood, among others, as a refusal to adjudicate with neojudges or excluding them – is rsynonymous with resigning from office. This is the most drastic solution, along the lines of “judge, you removed yourself.”
Even the one already mentioned Dagmara Pawełczyk-Woicka noted on the X website that the project requires further legislative work, and the automatic removal of a judge from office is not appropriate.
The president also calls participants to court proceedings to order. They are threatened that if they question the status of judges, they will not receive money for the length of the proceedings. However, President Nawrocki knows that the stick itself is not enough. You also need a carrot. Therefore, in order to gain public support, it doubles the compensation for proceedings that take too long.
However, these provisions sound like systemic blackmail: if you want procedural justice, forget about money, if you want money, remain silent and accept any adjudicating panel.
Read also: The president's bill for changes to the judiciary is submitted to the Sejm. What are the new regulations about?
“In an authoritarian way” – error or sincerity?
The president also wants to take over key personnel competences from the Minister of Justice, including the right to announce competitions, which de facto makes him the “superminister” of justice.
In the text of the project, in art. 20b, there was also a provision that will go down in the history of legislative oddities. The president wants to announce vacant judicial positions “in an authoritarian way”.
The Palace's lawyers may try to explain this term with a specific understanding of the “imperious” nature of the act, but in Polish this word has a clear meaning. This is a symbolic summary of the entire philosophy of the project: the authorities do not discuss, the authorities order.
The president's project will not solve the crisis because it does not remove its cause – the faulty method of appointing the National Council of the Judiciary. Instead of efficient and independent courts, we get a law that turns judges into intimidated officials, and the courtroom into a minefield, where one question about the status of the adjudicator can blow up not only the trial, but also the judge's professional life.
Compared to the existing regulations from the times of Zbigniew Ziobro, Nawrocki's project is a step towards full judicial autocracy. This is an attack on the courts and judges.
