WARSAW (Reuters) – The Polish government has sent a proposed judicial reform to European legal experts for approval in a new attempt to undo changes by its predecessor that prompted the European Union to fine Poland for undermining judicial independence.
Previous attempts at reform by Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pro-European coalition have been blocked by President Andrzej Duda, an ally of the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government that made the contested changes.
Poland holds a presidential election next month, and Duda is barred from seeking a third term. A Tusk ally is leading in opinion polls, with a PiS candidate in second place.
“The proposed solutions are a response to the flawed system created by the previous government,” a deputy minister of justice, Dariusz Mazur, was quoted as saying in a statement explaining that the experts from the Council of Europe had asked to see its proposals.
The Council, which groups EU and other states, sets democratic and human rights standards.
“We want to fix it and restore normality in this area,” Mazur said.
The PiS government altered the judicial appointments system, giving parliament a greater say and setting up a system for disciplining judges in changes which critics said ran counter to the rule of law. The party denied that it was undermining judicial independence.
The draft bill aims to resolve the status of the judges appointed under the contested system.
The dispute between the EU and Poland, one of its 27 member states, resulted in the bloc’s administration withholding billions of euros in EU funds and fining Poland more than 320 million euros ($333 million) in 2022 and 2023.
Tusk’s government is seeking to recover the funds.
(This story has been corrected to say that the experts are from Council of Europe, in the headline and paragraph 1, and to add details of its role in paragraph 5)
(Reporting by Anna Koper; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
