Five speakers representing different branches of the law discussed selected aspects of the recent regulatory changes in the Polish judiciary.

The problem of the relations between the Polish Constitutional Tribunal and the Court of Justice of the European Union in the context of judicial reforms after 2015 was laid out by Prof Agnieszka Bień-Kacała (Szczecin University; Leader of the Research Group: Gender and Constitution in Poland). The topic of ‘Will transferring disciplinary cases of judges to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Administrative Court solve the problem of the rule of law?’ was tackled by Prof Dorota Sylwestrzak (Nicolas Copernicus University).

Dr Elwira Macierzyńska-Franaszczyk (Akademia Leona Koźmińskiego) discussed the consequences of politicising comparative references. She made observations in the context of assessing the rule of law under the 2015–2019 judicial reforms, in the light of the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights.

Prof Dr hab Fryderyk Zoll (Jagiellonian University/University in Osnabrück) presented the ELI-Mount Scopus European Standards of Judicial Independence project.

Finally, Prof Sylwia Majkowska-Szulc (Gdansk University) gave a paper assessing the extent to which Poland has met the milestones for disbursement under Regulation (EU) 2021/241 establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

More information is available here.