The EU is critical of the restructuring of the judiciary in Poland. Now Warsaw is calling for a review of the German nomination system at the Federal Court of Justice.
Poland calls for a review of the German system for the nomination of judges at the Federal Supreme Court by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said in Warsaw that he would submit a corresponding application to the cabinet. Proceedings should be initiated against Germany because the politicization of the nomination of judges violates EU treaties.
Ziobro said that if the ECJ assures that the participation of politicians in the selection process for judges in Poland calls into question the independence of these judges, then Poland will now ask what influence such participation has on the independence of future judges at the Federal Supreme Court.
PiS is restructuring the judiciary
Poland’s national-conservative PiS government has been restructuring the judiciary for years. Critics accuse her of putting judges under pressure. Because of the reforms, the EU Commission has already opened several infringement proceedings against Warsaw and filed suits with the European Court of Justice.
In July, the ECJ ruled that the disciplinary body set up in 2018 at Poland’s Supreme Court did not offer all guarantees of independence and impartiality. The members of the Disciplinary Chamber are selected by the State Judicial Council. The European Court of Justice criticized the State Judicial Council as an organ that had “been substantially reorganized by the Polish executive and legislative branches” and that there were justified doubts about its independence.
Ziobro has now argued that in Germany judges for the federal court are elected by the judges’ selection committee, which consists exclusively of politicians. The body consists of the 16 ministers of justice of the federal states and 16 other members appointed by the Bundestag. This means that the committee is more politicized than Poland’s National Judicial Council, said Ziobro. This includes 17 judges, six members of parliament and two members sent by the government.
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