Poland’s conservative national government has been restructuring the judiciary for years, despite international criticism. The EU Commission has repeatedly complained about the reforms.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) will rule on the independence of the judiciary in Poland this Monday (14:30). The background is a 2021 EU Commission lawsuit according to which several Polish regulations violate EU law. It concerns the independence of the Polish judiciary in reviewing EU legislation and the rights of judges to respect for privacy.
Poland’s national-conservative government has been restructuring the judiciary for years, despite international criticism. The EU Commission has repeatedly complained about the reforms. Some decisions were overturned by the ECJ. As Warsaw refused to implement the ECJ decisions, the court finally imposed a fine of one million euros per day. The sentence was halved in the spring because the government made some changes to the justice system.
However, new procedures are already foreseeable: in February, the EU Commission again sued Poland for violations of EU law by the Polish Constitutional Court.