President says it's not Poland but EU institutions that violate EU law

The president has said that, in his opinion, Poland has not been violating the rule of law, and that this is the case with European institutions which have been attacking the democratically-elected Polish government.

Andrzej Duda made the statement in connection with the reform of the judiciary and the Supreme Court, which had been contested by the EU.

"As a matter of fact, it is the European institutions which have been violating EU laws while attacking the Polish authorities and the Polish state, and accusing them of violating the rule of law," Duda told reporters on Tuesday and added that the reform of the justice system was an internal affair of a member country and that EU treaties banned any interference in this field.

"I had no doubts that the reform had been necessary since before 2015, as there were numerous pathologies in the Supreme Court," said the president adding that Poles were fully aware of the situation.

On July 15, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled the Disciplinary Chamber of Poland's Supreme Court, which can run disciplinary proceedings against judges, should be suspended owing to a lack of independence from the executive power. Poland has been given until August 16 to implement the rulings or face financial sanctions.

In mid-August, Poland told the European Commission that it would also liquidate the Disciplinary Chamber in its current form.

On September 7, the European Commission announced that it had asked the CJEU to impose financial penalties on Poland because of its failure to comply with the ruling.