#RuleofLaw: European Parliament calls on Poland to respect Rule of Law

MEPs have called on Poland to fully implement the Venice Commission recommendations on the ability of Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal to uphold its Constitution and guarantee respect for the rule of law in a non-binding resolution.

The resolution, passed by 513 votes to 142 with 30 abstentions, concludes a debate that started in January with the Polish Prime Minister, Beata Szydło addressing the Parliament. The resolution comes after the European Commission decided to start an inquiry under the Rule of Law framework into reforms of the Polish Constitutional Court.

MEPs say that actions taken by the new Polish government and the president of the Republic of Poland have led to the effective paralysis of the Constitutional Tribunal, which poses a danger to democracy, human rights and the rule of law. They urge the Polish authorities to publish and implement without further delay the rulings of the Constitutional Tribunal in line with the recommendations of the Council of Europe's Venice Commission.

The European Parliament supports the European Commission’s efforts to find a way out of the current situation through a dialogue with Poland's authorities. However, if the Polish government fails to comply with the recommendations, MEPs want the European Commission to activate the second stage of the procedure under the "framework for addressing systemic threats to the rule of law".

MEPs stress that all steps taken with regard to Poland must respect the subsidiarity principle but also reiterate that the values and principles enshrined in EU treaties and international human rights instruments must be upheld by the EU, and by each individual member state, in all their policies.

The Parliament’s resolution does however acknowledge that amendments to the Constitutional Tribunal Act adopted on 25 June 2015 and the election of five judges on 8 October 2015, just before last year’s parliamentary elections of 25 October 2015 which brought the Law and Justice Party (PiS) to power, are a source of controversy. The previous government, led by Civic Platform, secured itself an overwhelming majority of as many as 14 of the 15 judges in the constitutional court, thus violating the elementary principle of pluralism of the courts. PiS’s reversal of these appointments is therefore considered to be acceptable.

It is interesting to see that leader of the European Parliament's Manfred Weber strongly supported this resolution.  Fidesz, the Party of Victor Orban - who has openly declared that he wants to end liberal democracy  in Hungary - is a member of Weber's EPP group.

"Europe needs strong, democratic, pro-EU #Poland. We ask Polish govt to comply with rule of law & implement Venice Commission recommendations."

— Manfred Weber (@ManfredWeber) April 13, 2016

Background

In January, the EU decided to launch the Rule of Law mechanism, and start an assessment of the situation in Poland. The European Commission’s actions in January were triggered by the political and legal disputes concerning the composition of the Constitutional Tribunal and changes in the law on public service broadcasters. To this list, the Council of Europe’s commissioner has added concern about a planned reduction of the budget of the Polish Commissioner for Human Rights and a draft law that will lift the immunity of the Polish Commissioner for Human Rights and the Commissioner for the Rights of the Child.

Earlier articles

Poles take PiS #wybory2015 #PolandVotes

#Poland Council of Europe criticizes Poland’s new government on rule of law