Poland cannot implement 'unlawful' rulings of EU court - justice min

Zbigniew Ziobro, Poland’s justice minister, has said a European court's ruling on Poland's new disciplinary panel for judges is "unlawful" and against the Polish constitution.

Last Thursday, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that Poland's system for disciplining judges violates EU law, and reiterated that Warsaw should immediately stop all proceedings at the disciplinary chamber of the country's Supreme Court.

Later on the same day, the Polish constitutional court ruled that the demand for the chamber's suspension ran counter to Poland's constitution and the country should not comply with it.

"Based on Poland's binding constitution and the principle of legality it is not possible to implement the unlawful, in the light of Polish and European law, decisions of a court in Luxembourg and suspend the Polish body of the Supreme Court, that is, the Disciplinary Chamber," Zbigniew Ziobro said on Wednesday.

"(The CJEU) rulings are not binding for the bodies operating under the Polish constitution, and adhering to these rulings would be clearly unlawful," Ziobro added.

He also backed a statement by the first president of the Supreme Court, Małgorzata Manowska, in which she said that under the provisions of the EU Treaty the organisation of the judiciary is outside the competences of the EU.

Manowska also said that she had revoked the order pursuant to which the Disciplinary Chamber was not to adjudicate on disciplinary judges.

"I would like to express my strong solidarity with the statement of the first president of the Supreme Court," Ziobro said.

"The position of the first president of the Supreme Court was the only one possible (...) in the light of a rational interpretation of constitutional standards and those resulting from the international agreements that Poland adopted," he added.