Poland may remove constitutional judges
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Ryszard Terlecki (seated) said the "cabaret" around Poland's constitutional court cannot go on for ever. (Photo: Pawel Kula)
Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) is considering removing non-loyal judges from the constitutional court to break a long-lasting dispute.
”We can’t let this cabaret go on forever,” PiS MP Ryszard Terlecki told Rzeczpospolita in an interview published on Wednesday (31 August).
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Shortly after winning elections last year, PiS passed a law curtailing the court's powers to scrutinise legislation, and attempted to appoint loyalist judges.
The court ruled that these moves were unconstitutional.
Terlecki, head of PiS' parliamentary group, said parliament was thinking about another bill, but admitted it may be useless.
”Some judges have shown they aren’t interested in complying with the laws passed by the parliament,” he said.
”This means they no longer want to be judges. I will have to find a solution to remove these judges so that they stop harming the court.”
The EU and the Council of Europe have warned of the risk of parallel legal systems, since the government does not recognise the Constitutional Tribunal's rulings but lower courts do.
Polish prosecutors last month launched an investigation against the court's president, Andrzej Rzeplinski, for not accepting three judges appointed by PiS.
Poland's deputy PM Mateusz Morawiecki said on Tuesday that the dispute would resolve itself when Rzeplinski steps down at the end of the year.
The European Commission said in July that the constitutional dispute was a threat to the rule of law in Poland and formally recommended the Polish government to recognise the top court’s rulings as well as the judges nominated by the previous parliament.
The commission gave Warsaw until 27 October to comply, or warned it could face sanctions such as losing its Council voting rights.
