Page 12 - bne_newspaper_July_27_2018

Central Europe
July 27, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 12
Protests erupt in Poland after Duda signs off
on PiS’ takeover of Supreme Court
Wojciech Kosc in Warsaw
Warsaw and dozens of other cities and towns saw rallies late on July 26 in protest against President Andrzej Duda signing off on a law by which the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has completed its highly contested judiciary reform.
The law that Duda signed off on facilitates stack- ing the Supreme Court with PiS loyalists and a faster removal of the court’s president Malgor- zata Gersdorf, whose six-year term – written into the Constitution – ends only in 2020. The law was passed by the Polish Senate a day earlier.
A crowd of several thousand gathered in from of the presidential palace in Warsaw, shouting “You will go to jail!” and “Puppet!,” the latter in refer- ence to the president’s unwavering loyalty to PiS.
PiS claims the reforms are necessary to cleanse the Polish judiciary of corporatism as well as make it more efficient and reliable to citizens. The ruling party also sees the reforms as long overdue “decommunisation,” or getting rid of judges who worked during the communist era in Poland prior to 1989.
The European Commission, international judici- ary bodies, and human rights watchdogs say the reform is a way for PiS to ensure political control over courts as a means of cementing power in Poland.
That threatens with abuse of basic human rights, such as the right to fair trial and raises concern over courts’ impartiality in political cases, they charge.
Poland’s tampering with the rule of law may also hit the country’s economy, as some EU member states propose that doling out funding from the next EU budget be linked to adherence to demo- cratic values.
Foreign investment may be at stake as well, with some analyses showing that FDI inflows have dried up over the past 18 months despite GDP growth accelerating.
The judiciary reform is also subject to a probe by the Commission for a possible breach of the rule of law principle, enshrined in the EU’s founding treaties.
The probe could – in theory – result in suspension of Poland’s voting rights in the EU although
it would require unanimity of all member
states. Poland’s ally Hungary has long said it
will not support any sanctions against Warsaw.
PiS already controls Poland’s Constitutional Tri- bunal and the judge appointing body, the National Judiciary Council.