Poland ignores EU appeal on constitutional reform

Polish president Andrzej Duda i has defied the European Commission, by signing a controversial law on constitutional reform.

He told press in Warsaw on Monday (28 December) he did it after “careful reflection” because he “believes” the law “helps to strengthen the position of the Constitutional Tribunal.”

“If the tribunal is to make decisions on laws adopted by parliament, it should be by a higher majority. Why? Because they’re lawyers, lawyers who have different points of view, both legally and ideologically,” he said.

“I find it difficult to believe how, until now, de facto three judges on the tribunal could decide the fate of a law adopted by the parliamentary majority.”

The law makes it harder for the tribunal to make decisions, by raising the bar from a simple majority to two-thirds and by raising the quorum i from nine to 13 out of 15 judges.

It also increases the time - to up to six months - before the tribunal can vet new legislation.

The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party claims the changes are needed because the judges are “cronies” of the opposition who will block its legislative programme.

But independent jurists and watchdogs, such as the Council of Europe and the European Commission, say it could see “the integrity, stability, and proper functioning of the national constitutional court undermined”.

For his part, commission vice-president Frans Timmermans i, on 23 December urged Polish authorities to put off adoption of the reforms until the debate is settled.

His spokeswoman said in Brussels on Monday the commission will discuss the proposals at its next meeting on 13 January.

The Polish opposition has reacted furiously to the change.

Grzegorz Schetyna, Poland’s former foreign minister, from the centre-right Civic Platform (PO) party, told the RadioZet broadcaster on Tuesday, he had received “worrying signals” from Washington that it may call off the Nato summit, due in Warsaw in July.

Slawomir Neumann, the PO chairman, said Duda’s decision shows that he “isn’t an independent politician.”

Mateusz Kijowski, from the Komitet Obrony Demokracji, a group which has organised anti-PiS street protests in recent weeks, told British daily The Guardian: “This is the end of democracy in Poland. They have broken the country.”

The Duda signature comes after a previous PiS decision to remove five constitutional judges and replace them with its loyalists - also criticised by Timmermans.

Polish media report PiS is also planning, in the new year, to restrict foreign ownership of media and to extend political control over the prosecutor’s service.

Neumann’s remark - that Duda isn’t independent - also highlights concern that the PiS party chairman, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, de facto controls both Duda and the Polish PM, Beata Szydlo, despite not being elected to office.