Polish President vetoes controversial judiciary reforms

Controversial reforms to the Polish judiciary that prompted international condemnation as well as nationwide protests have been unexpectedly vetoed by President Andrzej Duda.

The Polish Parliament had passed three separate measures:

• one requiring all Supreme Court judges to stand down and giving the Justice Minister power to decide which of them should remain in office;
• one creating political control of membership of the National Judiciary Council, which nominates Supreme Court judges;
• and one giving the Justice Minister the right to select and dismiss judges in lower courts.

The governing Law & Justice Party repeatedly denied claims that it was moving towards authoritarian rule, but legal and judicial professional bodies internationally, among them those in the UK, had protested at the threat to judicial independence, and the European Commission had threatened to impose sanctions including suspending Poland's voting rights if the measures had become law. Donald Tusk, President of the European Council and a former Polish Prime Minister, warned that the reforms could lead to "the marginalisation of Poland in Europe". 

Demonstrations have also taken place across Poland as concern grew at the threat to the rule of law.

Today President Duda announced that he was vetoing the first two refiorms, but approving the third.

He said he had been influenced in particular by Zofia Romaszewska, a dissident in the Communist era, who had told him she did not want to go back to the days when "the general prosecutor could do virtually anything".

It would be possible for the Parliament to override the veto with a three-fifths majority vote. It is not yet clear whether it will attempt to do so, or attempt to amend the two bills. Protesters are likely to keep up the campaign for the third bill also to be rejected.