New rules on Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal in July?

The tribunal, which decides whether laws passed by parliament are in keeping with the Polish constitution, is at the centre of a bitter, ongoing political row that has sparked anti-government protests.

The EU has criticized Warsaw for lack of progress in resolving a deadlock over the court amid a row that has pitted the Law and Justice party against much of the Polish opposition, with both sides digging in their heels.

But on Thursday, Law and Justice leader Jarosław Kaczyński said: “"It seems to me that a bill on the Constitutional Tribunal will be adopted as early as July.”

He added that a bill on the court put forward by Law and Justice contained “90 percent of the demands of the Venice Commission."

The first reading of three new bills on the Constitutional Tribunal was to take place in the Polish parliament on Thursday.

One of the bills has been put forward by Law and Justice, one by the opposition Polish People’s Party and the third by the Committee for the Defence of Democracy (KOD), which opposes sweeping reforms that ruling party PiS has pushed through since coming to power in October.

The Venice Commission, an advisory group to rights body the Council of Europe, in March urged the Polish government to publish a key ruling by the country's Constitutional Tribunal – a step needed to make the verdict binding – in order to end a political and legal deadlock.

The Venice Commission warned that the rule of law, democracy and human rights were in danger as long as Poland was embroiled in a constitutional crisis “and as long as the Constitutional Tribunal cannot carry out its work in an efficient manner.” (pk)

Source: PAP