Many interested citizens and activists attend the meetings, but also uninterested Poles. “Society will not allow the rule of law to disappear. Those in power can make changes, but the core values remain,” says Ryszard Lautenbach.
He also lived in Poland under communism and “doesn’t get scared easily,” he laughs. Young visitors feel more urgency. “Rulers act as if the constitution does not exist. Judges are suspended if they act independently. It is very painful to see this happen in my country. I was born as a citizen of the European Union and I want to live in a country governed by rule of law, in a democracy,” she says. Anna Prokop.
If there is a ruling today, there is a good chance it will be in favor of the Polish government. One of the first legal institutions that the ruling PiS reformed, the Polish Constitutional Court is now made up largely of judges who sided with PiS. The judge looking into this case is also known to be anti-European.
eventful week
Either way, it’s going to be an eventful week in this region. On Thursday, the European Court will rule on the legality of the disciplinary chamber of the Polish Supreme Court. In an interim ruling, Luxembourg ruled that the Disciplinary Chamber must stop its work immediately, because the independence of the judges could not be guaranteed. Poland has not yet complied with this ruling.
By the way, Poland is not the only country that disagreed with Brussels over the priority issue. The German Constitutional Court was also recently reprimanded, because by criticizing the European Central Bank’s debt-purchase program it would not recognize the primacy of EU law over national law, thus “inspiring” other countries not to do the same. to do.
And this happens. Poland described the German court’s ruling as “evidence that the Polish government is right in the dispute over the reform of the Polish judiciary.”
