France and Germany expressed concern over the independence of Polish courts at a meeting of European Union ministers on Tuesday, keeping up pressure on Warsaw to drop changes to the judiciary that the EU believes undermine the separation of powers, reports Reuters.
Last week, the European Commission launched an infringement procedure against Poland over a new disciplinary system for judges, which the Commission argues is meant to scare them into sentencing in line with the wishes of the ruling euro-sceptic and nationalist PiS party.
“We hope that the infringement procedure launched by the European Commission last week regarding the new disciplinary regime for judges will allow some improvements, in particular regarding the right to an effective remedy before an independent and impartial court,” a Franco-German statement said.
The Commission, guardian of the EU treaties, has already opened two infringement procedures against Poland, in mid-2017 and in mid-2018, over changes to retirement provisions for Polish judges and the possible impact on their independence.
Poland is also already subject to an unprecedented EU rule-of-law procedure, called Article 7 from the article of the EU treaty it is based on, since 2017 over judiciary reforms.
The process could in theory result in Poland losing its EU voting rights, though this is unlikely because all other 27 EU member states would have to agree. Hungary, also under the same procedure, has vowed to veto such a move.