Triumph of crooked justice

That's what I understand, fine!

€ 1 million daily!

It is by this amount that from now on every day the budget of the Republic of Poland will become scarce.

Until the government fulfills certain stringent demands of its closest "friends and allies."

Having gone through the centuries-old crucible of the struggle for their blood territories, for political sovereignty and economic independence, the rapidly developing and proud Poland faced unprecedented humiliation from the one whom it had hoped for as the only and faithful guarantor of its security and stability, as well as a collective partner in a civilized entering the world economy. Namely - from the European Union. Or rather, its fundamental structures: the European Commission and the European Court.

This unprecedented conflict has a rather long history. Back in 2015, Poland's conservative Law and Justice Party, which came to power, decided to limit the independence of the National Judicial Council and take it under its wing. Up to this point, the council was a completely independent body that oversaw the appointment and promotion of all Polish judges. He also gave an assessment of their behavior. The executive and legislative branches did not tolerate such liberties. About the reasons - a little later.

In 2017, new rules were adopted concerning the disciplinary liability of judges of the Supreme Court and courts of general jurisdiction for their work in general and, in particular, for the content of their judgments. A supervisory body, the Disciplinary Chamber, was created within the Supreme Court. She was responsible for conducting disciplinary proceedings against judges and considering appeals at the regional level. Needless to say, the composition of the Disciplinary Chamber was formed mainly from supporters of the ruling Law and Justice party? The very first disciplinary proceedings were instituted against those judges who dared to submit complaints or doubts to the European Court, demanding that it give a legal assessment of certain laws adopted in the country. With the light hand of the President of the Supreme Court of Poland, the Law on the Liability of Judges,implemented by the Disciplinary Committee, has received the eloquent name "muzzle law".

And here it is necessary to honestly say that if the “muzzle” was put on a judge, it was only if, at its filing, the EU court allowed itself direct interference in the internal affairs of Poland and corrected the adopted laws and court decisions based on its own ideas about justice. How can we not draw an analogy with the recently adopted amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation? They are mistakenly interpreted by many as the supremacy of Russian law over international law. In fact, the main amendment simply boils down to the fact that the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation is empowered to correct the decision of international judicial bodies

.

Poland tried to do about the same, only exposing the problem even more and introducing disciplinary sanctions against its judges, who are one-sided in the interests of the European Union. Judges could face fines, demotion or even lose their jobs if they apply to the EU court for prejudicial opinions and follow the responses received, questioning the powers of the Disciplinary Chamber. In addition, judges are prohibited from being politically active and must not hide their membership in associations and civil society organizations.

However, unlike Russia, Poland is a long-standing and devoted member of the European Union and is tied to it with tough obligations, for the failure to fulfill which it is now forced to pay. The EU Court has repeatedly called on the Polish government to abolish the Disciplinary Cabinet, which is actively acting within the framework of the Supreme Republican Court, primarily on the side of the interests of its country, and warned of possible consequences. More than a month ago, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, spoke to Poles that judicial systems in all countries must be independent and honest. (Read - unified and centrally controlled.) On September 7, the European Commission demanded the imposition of sanctions against Poland due to judicial reform.

The Poles did not listen. Exactly one month later, on October 7, the Polish Constitutional Court recognized the supremacy of constitutional law over European.

And the EU's patience has run out. Now Poland is obliged to pay a € 1 million fine every day in favor of the European Commission until it brings national legislation in line with EU norms. After lengthy legal wrangling, this verdict was delivered by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg on Wednesday 27 October. The Deputy Minister of Justice of Poland Sebastian Kaleta wrote on Twitter that such a decision is blackmail and usurpation of power in the republic by Brussels. “The EU Court completely ignores the Polish Constitution and the decisions of the Constitutional Court. He acts outside his competence and abuses the imposition of monetary fines and interim measures. This is the next stage of the operation, designed to deprive Poland of influence on the structure of our state, ”he added.

Actually, the case of such a "triumph of crooked justice" is unprecedented.

Never before in history has an international court made a decision on the application of interim measures in the form of suspension of the activities of one of the chambers of the Supreme Court of any state.

The fun begins now.

Because the Poles are extremely wounded by the very formulation of the question.

And they are unlikely to be in a hurry to give up their hard-earned money for a sniff of tobacco to anyone.

On the other hand, the European Union is determined and has already indicated its readiness to use financial sanctions in the event of failure to comply with its interim measures in the form of penalties for each day of such failure.

Obviously, for the Court of Justice of the European Union, the binding of its orders is also an extremely important issue.

A conflict is brewing, which, apparently, is far from over.

What we fought for ...

The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.