Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal has begun proceedings on a presidential motion to review an amended law on Poland’s Supreme Court, the head of the Tribunal said on Monday.

Julia Przylebska said she hoped for „efficient” proceedings in the matter and said the first hearing in the case should take place soon.

On February 10, Andrzej Duda, Poland’s president, sent a key bill reforming the disciplinary regime for judges, known as the Supreme Court bill, to the Constitutional Tribunal (TK) for evaluation before signing it into law.

Passed by the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, on January 13, the new law is expected to satisfy one of the conditions, or milestones, set by the EC that Poland needs to meet if it wants to gain access to a post-pandemic recovery fund, the Recovery and Resilience Facility, from which the country is due to receive EUR 23.9 billion in grants and EUR 11.5 billion in inexpensive loans.

The EC has blocked the funding for Poland on rule-of-law grounds, largely related to the Polish judiciary system’s disciplinary restrictions on judges, which the Commission fears may infringe on their independence. (PAP)

gim