According to information posted on Twitter by Dominika Cosić, the correspondent of Polish TV, Telewizja Polska, in Brussels, courts in European Union Member States cannot automatically refuse to extradite suspects to the Polish judiciary.
Ms. Cosić posted on Twitter the opinion of the spokesman of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) regarding Polish courts and the European arrest warrants issued by them. According to the posts the CJEU states that "the deepening of general irregularities concerning the independence of the judiciary in Poland DOES NOT JUSTIFY the automatic refusal to execute all European arrest warrants issued in that country".
That means that the courts of the Member States will not be able to automatically refuse to surrender people wanted in Poland on the pretext of the lack of independence of Polish judges.
The opinion was issued after two Dutch courts, for obviously political reasons, sent an inquiry to the EU institution regarding doubts related to the extradition of suspected criminals to Poland. One of such situations took place in July 2020. The District Court in Amsterdam suspended the extradition to Poland of a suspect of smuggling 200 kg of drugs. Dutch judges had doubts about the independence of the courts in Poland and feared that the detainee might not be able to be judged fairly.
