(Newswire.net — December 19, 2019) — The Polish Supreme Court has issued a statement saying that contradictions between Polish and European legislation are likely to lead to Poland leave the EU, BBC reports.
Poland may leave the EU because of a plan by ruling nationalists to allow judges to be fired if they question the legitimacy of government judicial reforms, the country’s Supreme Court has said.
The statement points out that these plans are contrary to European laws and reinforce pre-existing tensions between Brussels and the ruling Polish Justice and Justice Party.
The Polish Supreme Court has issued a statement saying that contradictions between Polish and European legislation are likely to lead to EU institutions intervening in the case of a breach of treaties within the Union and in the long run this will lead to Poland leaving the EU.
The statement also states that the proposed law was apparently drafted to allow President Andrzej Dudi, an ally of the ruling party, to appoint a new Supreme Court president before the upcoming presidential election in May.
The EU has been accusing the Justice and Justice Party of politicizing the judiciary since it came to power in 2015.
The party, however, argues that reforms are necessary in order to make the justice system more efficient and to tackle corruption and perform an overhaul.
According to the draft law, which is currently in the parliamentary procedure, judges are prevented from ruling that their colleagues, proposed by a panel appointed by the ruling party, are not independent.
The EU announced yesterday it would investigate whether the draft law violates the independence of the judiciary in Poland.
Earlier this month, Poland saw thousands of people protest in cities and towns to show solidarity with judges who they said were facing intimidation, BBC News reports. According to the report, protesters called for the reinstatement of judge Pawel Juszczyszyn, who was dismissed from his post for questioning the appointment of another judge.