Poland says it will end mechanism for disciplining judges

Poland has told the European Union that it will shut down a chamber at its supreme court devoted to disciplining judges, an issue that has been at the centre of a dispute between Warsaw and Brussels.

The Polish government said on Tuesday it had sent a letter to the European Commission on Monday, the deadline Warsaw faced for informing the EU's executive branch of how it would proceed with the disciplinary chamber after the EU's top court said the chamber undermined judicial independence and contravened EU law.

In announcing that it would disband the chamber, the Polish government insisted that it needed to have ways to punish judges who break the law or otherwise abuse their positions.

It said it would find ways to do this as it continued its reforms of the judicial system.

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The government also insisted that Polish law had primacy over EU law, another question that has been aggravating tensions between the 27-member bloc and Poland, its fifth most populous member state.

Since the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party took power in 2015, it has overhauled the justice system in a way that has given the party new powers over the courts and appointment of judges.

The changes have drawn strong criticism and warnings of sanctions from the EU, which considers many of the changes to violate the democratic principle of the separation of powers.

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The European Commission said it had received Poland’s response and would now analyse it. “We are looking into the reply before deciding about possible further steps,” a commission spokesperson told a daily news conference.

The next phase of judicial reforms is due to start in the coming months. Prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki is betting on big infrastructure projects, partly financed with EU funds, to help his government stay in power, a plan that would be hit hard if the bloc cut financing.

His ruling coalition is also on the back foot after a pro-business party left the government last week, raising the chance that radical, anti-EU forces may have a greater say in Poland’s next moves.

In a separate development, a Polish appeals court has overturned a ruling against two leading Holocaust historians accused of defamation, in a closely watched case that raised questions about the freedom to research Poland’s second World War past.

The civil case was brought against Prof Barbara Engelking and Prof Jan Grabowski for a book they co-edited about the complicity of Catholic Poles in the genocide of Jews during Nazi Germany's occupation of Poland.