When European governments openly disobey courts, ears prick up. When two courts simultaneously contradict each other on the same day and descend into an unseemly shouting-match, all bets are off. Welcome to the mad world of Poland’s legal relations with the EU.
The ruling Law and Justice Party in Poland, PiS, is cordially detested in Brussels. Its policies, which are quite popular locally, are anathema to the liberal and cosmopolitan Euro-nomenklatura. Back in 2017, PiS introduced technical changes to the terms of appointment of the Polish higher judiciary, including a disciplinary chamber with political connections armed with powers in certain cases to sanction judges.
The measures were aimed at halting corruption. But these changes were seen by the opposition as an attempt to muzzle the courts. Inevitably, Brussels enthusiastically took up the opposition’s case.
Although you might have thought this was not an EU matter, Brussels said the new measures were illegal. It suggested that the rules deprived Polish litigants who were seeking to rely on EU law access to an impartial tribunal to apply them.
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