Poland

14.03.2016

Constitution

Poland’s highest court faces constitutional crisis

The Council of Europe released a report expressing dismay over constitutional amendments by the Polish Government altering the functioning of the country’s Constitutional Court. President Andrej Duda of Poland signed the Constitutional Tribunal Bill in December 2015, which is seen to reduce the effectiveness of the Constitutional Tribunal. Some of the amendments included raising the number of judges required to hear cases as a full bench, and requiring a two-thirds majority rather than the previous simple majority in favour of the decision. Powers are also introduced allowing the President and Minster of Justice of Poland to initiate disciplinary proceedings against a judge of the Tribunal, while preventing re-election of judges. A ruling by the Tribunal striking down the law has been withheld from the public.

The amendments have exposed the fragility of democratic framework in Poland; and appeals for involvement of the European Union have elicited little concrete support. The Venice Commission, looking into recent developments, stated “a simple legislative act, which threatens to disable constitutional control, must itself be evaluated for constitutionality”. The Commission also found no evidence purporting unreasonable delay and pendency before the Tribunal – only four cases pending since 2012 – requiring such an “immediate and a far-reaching reaction” by the government. Damning was its opinion of December 2015 amendments: “Rather than speeding up the work of the Tribunal these amendments, notably when taken together, could lead to a serious slow-down of the activity of the Tribunal and could make it ineffective as a guardian of the Constitution.”

Tags : Poland constitutional court effectiveness

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