Growing EU concern over Poland legal reforms

The European Union on Wednesday will mull turning up the heat on Poland's rightwing government over plans to reshape the country's courts -- a drive critics say would undermine judicial freedom.

After launching reforms of the constitutional court following its election victory in late 2015, the Polish government last week moved to overhaul the entire judicial system.

"We are following these developments with great concern," said Margaritis Schinas, spokesman for the European Commission, the powerful executive of the 28-nation EU.

The Commission will hold high-level talks on Wednesday before its Vice President Frans Timmermans gives his assessment of the situation, including on a draft law giving the justice minister influence over the supreme court.

The draft triggered angry exchanges between the ruling party and the opposition that ended up suspending debate in the Polish parliament late Tuesday. Debate is due to resume early Wednesday.

Schinas said it was still unclear how events will unfold as the reforms are contained in draft laws and the Polish legislative process is not yet complete.

- 'Sense of urgency' -

"Tomorrow there will be a political debate (in Brussels). The sense of urgency is there," a senior EU official told AFP on the eve of the discussion. 

"However, for technical reasons it won't be possible to adopt decisions just yet." 

The European Commission has already warned the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) to reverse changes to the constitutional court or face sanctions for breaching EU norms on the rule of law and democracy.

Last year it launched an unprecedented procedure which could eventually see Warsaw's voting rights suspended in the Council of Ministers, the EU's highest decision-making body.

Timmermans has in recent months resisted pressure from European Parliament and other critics to move to sanctions, favouring continued dialogue with PiS.  

But the pressure and the stakes keep mounting.

On Sunday, thousands rallied in the capital Warsaw, Krakow, Szczecin and Wroclaw against reforms that were passed by the senate the day before, and more protests took place Tuesday in Warsaw.

The first bill stipulates that from now on the parliament -- which is controlled by the PiS party -- will choose the members of the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS), whose role is to protect the independence of the courts.

The second bill states that the justice minister will name the chief justices of Poland's common courts.

Both texts were adopted days earlier by the lower house of parliament and now they need only to be signed by President Andrzej Duda, who is closely allied with the PiS, to become law.

But Duda, in a surprise move on Tuesday, warned he would not approve the reform of the Supreme Court unless lawmakers amended the bill giving parliament greater control over KRS, the body that oversees the selection of judges.

He tabled a short draft bill stating that the members of the KRS would need to be elected by 60 percent of lawmakers, denying the party complete control to decide the composition of the KRS.

"This draft bill should stop the Council from being subject to a single party, a single political group. This is unacceptable... It would be seen as a political diktat," Duda said. 

At European Parliament, the main political groups urged the Commission "to act now and clearly" to save Poland's democracy from the reform push, according to a letter they sent Monday.

Source: AFP