Thursday, April 30, 2020

The EC initiates the procedure against Poland, sharp answer from the Ministry of Justice


On Wednesday, the European Commission launched an infringement procedure in connection with the Act on disciplinary measures for judges. "The Ministry of Justice expects that the European Commission will stop abusing its powers and will not usurp competences that the Polish state has not transferred to it" - replies the Polish ministry.

"The launch  of a procedure by the European Commission against Poland is completely groundless. The European Commission has no authority to interfere in matters of the justice system, because shaping this area of legislation is the exclusive domain of the Member States of the European Union" - reads a statement from the Ministry of Justice.

"The European Commission is not entitled to question the Act adopted by the Polish Parliament and signed by the President of the Republic on December 20, 2019 amending the law on the structure of common courts and the Supreme Court and other laws that guarantees constitutional order in the administration of justice "- emphasizes the resort.



"The EC's position is also based on the false thesis that the Act of 20 December 2019 limits the right of judges to ask questions for a preliminary ruling in the field covered by EU law. In fact, there are no such restrictions in this Act. In turn, the EC's reference to an article 19 of the EU Treaty is all the more unjustified because the German Constitutional Court has spoken on this subject twice in 2009 and 2019. It stated that, despite the functioning of this provision, the organization of the judiciary is the sole competence of individual Member States," explains the Ministry of Justice. "The scope of obligations imposed on Member States in matters of the organization of justice cannot be arbitrarily extended by the Europen Court of Justice rulings, as there is no democratic legitimacy of the Court of Justice to issue decisions in this area," he added.

"The Ministry of Justice expects the European Commission to stop abusing its powers and not to usurp competences that the Polish state has not delegated to it. The more that the Commission respects the sovereignty of Germany and other EU Member States in this respect."