Poland will defend its right to reform its justice system, a deputy foreign minister said on Tuesday, amid concerns in Brussels that the independence of Polish courts is under threat.

Konrad Szymański was speaking as EU ministers for European affairs meeting in Brussels discussed the rule of law in Poland following sweeping legal changes carried out by the government in Warsaw.

In December, the European Commission, the executive arm of the 28-nation European Union of which Poland is part, took the unprecedented step of triggering Article 7 of the EU Treaty against the country, stepping up pressure on Warsaw over controversial changes to the judiciary by the country’s ruling conservatives.

Rule of law

The move means that the EU’s executive wanted the bloc’s member states to declare that the rule of law in Poland is under threat.

Such a step could pave the way for sanctions being imposed on Poland, for example suspending its voting rights in the European Union.

But penalties on Warsaw would have to be backed unanimously by EU member states, an improbable scenario after some member states, including Hungary, have said they would not support sanctions.

The European Commission on December 20 gave Warsaw three months to respond to its recommendations on the rule of law. Tuesday marked the end of the EU executive's deadline.

In its response, the government in Warsaw said the Commission's concerns resulted from a misunderstanding and insisted that the rule of law in Poland was not under threat.

Arguments ‘slowly coming home’ to EU officials

Poland's governing Law and Justice (PiS) party has said sweeping legal changes are needed to reform an inefficient and sometimes corrupt judicial system tainted by the communist past, accusing judges of being a self-serving clique often out of touch with the problems of ordinary citizens.

But opponents have accused Law and Justice of aiming to stack courts with its own candidates and to dismantle the rule of law.

Poland’s Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said on Monday the government's arguments -- that the changes to the judiciary “are not intended to limit the independence of judges, but to maintain independence and to improve efficiency” -- were “slowly coming home” to EU officials.

(pk/gs)

Source: IAR