Status: October 18, 2021 5:32 p.m.
The EU has long been critical of the restructuring of the judiciary in Poland. Now Poland’s Justice Minister counters with an accusation against Germany: The ECJ should examine whether politics has too much influence on the judges at the Federal Court of Justice.
Poland calls for a review of the German system for the nomination of judges at the Federal Supreme Court by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). He will make a corresponding application in the cabinet, said Poland’s Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro at a press conference. Proceedings should be initiated against Germany because the politicization of the nomination of judges violates EU treaties.
Ziobro said that if the ECJ assures that the participation of politicians in the selection process for judges in Poland calls into question the independence of these judges, then Poland will now ask what influence such participation has on the independence of future judges at the Federal Supreme Court.
EU criticism of Poland’s judicial reforms
Poland’s national-conservative PiS government has been restructuring the judiciary for years. Critics accuse her of putting judges under pressure. Because of the reforms, the EU Commission has already opened several infringement proceedings against the government in Warsaw and filed suits with the European Court of Justice.
In July, the ECJ ruled that the disciplinary body set up in 2018 at Poland’s Supreme Court did not offer all guarantees of independence and impartiality. The members of the Disciplinary Chamber are selected by the State Judicial Council. The European Court of Justice criticized the State Judicial Council as an organ that “has been substantially reorganized by the Polish executive and legislative branches” and that there are justified doubts about its independence.
Ziobro: More politicized than Poland’s National Judicial Council
Ziobro has now argued that in Germany judges for the Federal Court of Justice are elected by the judges’ selection committee, which consists exclusively of politicians. The body consists of the 16 ministers of justice of the federal states as well as 16 other members appointed by the Bundestag. This means that the committee is more politicized than Poland’s National Judicial Council, said Ziobro. This includes 17 judges, six members of parliament and two members sent by the government.
The Federal Court of Justice is the highest German civil court. The federal government in Berlin has so far not commented on the accusations made by the Polish minister.
In fact, not only the EU Commission but also an individual member state can file infringement proceedings against another member state. This rarely happens, but it is possible. For example, Austria had sued Germany for the car toll before the ECJ. Before a member state can do this, however, it must refer the matter to the EU Commission.