During the plenary session (11-14 June 2018) of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, MEPs debated on the ongoing judicial reform in Poland with Frans TIMMERMANS. The Polish Government is carrying out a comprehensive overhaul of the judiciary, which, according to the European Commission, threatens its independence and the principle of separation of powers. Statements by Frans TIMMERMANS, First Vice-President of the EC in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, Janusz LEWANDOWSKI (EPP, PL), Josef WEIDENHOLZER (S&D, AU) and Sophia IN'T VELD (ALDE, NL).

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

TIMMERMANS, Frans (NL, EC)

WEIDENHOLZER, Josef (S&D, AT)

LEWANDOWSKI, Janusz (EPP, PL)

IN 'T VELD, Sophia (Renew, NL)

EU mechanism on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights (T)

EU - Poland (T)

Independence of the Judiciary in Poland: extracts from the debate

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, First Vice-President of the EC in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, Three laws where adopted in April amending the law on the Supreme Court, the law on Ordinary Courts Organisation and the law on the National Council for the Judiciary. A fourth law was adopted by the same on the 10th of May. I welcome the change of the law which provides now for a uniform retirement age for female and male judges, now fixed at 65. Also, the amendment on the assistant judges goes in the right direction. I also welcome the fact that there has been a willingness from the side of the Polish authorities to amend the laws on a number of other issues. However, I regret to inform you that overall and despite all of these legislative changes, key concerns which the Commission identified in the recent proposal remain unaddressed.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, First Vice-President of the EC in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, Sadly the Commission can only conclude that the four new laws, adopted in April and May, are not by themselves sufficient to remove the existing concerns and are not sufficient to eliminate the clear risk of a serious breach of the rule of law. The measures the Polish authorities have continued to implement over the past six months have already created damage and are continuing to do so. After the constitutional tribunal and the National Council for the Judiciary, it is now the Polish Supreme Court which is at risk of coming under political control.

SOUNDBITE (Polish), Janusz LEWANDOWSKI (EPP, PL), Today the European Parliament, standing to defend independent judiciary and the constitution, stands on the side of Polish citizens and my voice let it be the warning about the faith of Polish people if the destruction of the state of law is finalised. Because it&rsquo;s all about institutions which are the guaranty of freedom which defend us from the abuse of authorities. And if they are gone we are helpless in face of the state.

SOUNDBITE (English), Josef WEIDENHOLZER (S&amp;D, AU), <a></a>The recommendations of the Commission have not been fulfilled, the Polish government continued its so called reform of the Judiciary. Almost 40% of the judges will be forced into early-retirement and procedure rules are fundamentally changed. In less than 3 weeks there could-be no independent judiciary in Poland anymore.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sophia IN&apos;T VELD (ALDE, NL), The treaties allowed the Commission to bring a complaint against the reform law before the European Court of Justice, it has already been raised and we would really really urge the European Commission to do that soon before the deadline of the 3rd of July. You have the power and to act and you have the support of the majority of this house.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sophia IN&apos;T VELD (ALDE, NL), We are talking about more and more connecting for example databases we talking about e-evidence we are talking about the evidence world all those instruments will not work not just in Poland but in the whole European Union because if you remove one part of the chain then the all chain will fall so this is essential but I would still like to urge the European Commission to not focus only of the Judiciary but also look at the rights of women also look at freedom of the media. I am also very concerned about the attempts of the government to exercise control over the media, the integrity and the independency of the advertising in measurement market are crucial in this context.