Judiciary Reforms in Poland as a Threat to the Principle of the Rule of Law

In December, the European Commission proposed to the Council to adopt a decision under Article 7(1) of the Treaty on European Union against Poland. Article 7 provides that the Council may determine that there is a clear risk of a serious breach by a member state of the values referred to in Article 2, which includes, inter alia, the rule of law. This provision is sometimes referred to as the ‘nuclear option,’ because of the related sanctioning mechanism that would suspend Poland’s voting rights in the EU. The Commission decided to take this step in view of the fact that Poland has adopted several laws affecting the judiciary: the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, and the National Judiciary Council. This presentation will detail potential effects of the recent legislative changes on the principle of separation of powers and the rule of law in order to determine if the risk perceived by the Commission is real.

Agata Hauser is a lecturer in the Constitutional Law Department at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. Her research focuses on judicial protection of individuals by the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights, the interactions between the EU and the Council of Europe, and application of the EU law by national courts of the member states.