Piwnik, who was justice minister 2001-2002, said, cited by the wpolityce.pl website: “If there is no balanced, reasonable counter-proposal, if you do not undertake a factual discussion -- I freely admit it’s a little unpleasant to hear only emotions being thrown back and forth, when it comes to the justice system, that leads to the situation we have today.”
Piwnik, whose comments originally came in an interview with the Polska The Times daily, said public debate was important.
“The President of the Supreme Court has recently said that she will want to talk to all those who can influence the shape of this law, including with President Andrzej Duda. To me, this is a signal that dialogue may finally begin, which I have been encouraging for a long time.”
She added: “Since the party ruling today in Poland had announced changes to the justice system in its electoral program, it could have been expected that there would be proposals heading in this direction.”
Piwnik said new proposed rules on ending the terms of members of the influential National Council of the Judiciary (KRS), a body tasked with safeguarding the independence of courts and judges, are not necessarily unconstitutional.
“For years, in a sense, the significance of the constitution was forgotten, and now everyone considers themselves a specialist in constitutional law (...) When a Constitutional Tribunal ruling was made regarding the term of office of KRS judges, and the comments were what we saw, I said that I was not surprised by such a decision. In the Sejm [the lower house of parliament], when it is necessary to add a member of parliament, the person who replaces an outgoing MP does not start a new term in office, but his term ends with the term of the Sejm, does it not?”
Prime Minister Beata Szydło has said the Polish government will “not give in to pressure” at home and abroad to stop controversial changes to the country’s judicial system.
Her comments came as thousands staged a protest on Thursday night in front of the presidential palace in Warsaw against controversial legal changes, calling on the head of state to veto the reforms.
Poland's ruling conservatives have said sweeping changes are needed to reform an inefficient and sometimes corrupt judicial system.
On Friday, the Polish Senate was considering the government’s Supreme Court reform bill, passed in the lower house on Thursday amid emotional debate, which, if it becomes law, will force all of the court’s current judges into retirement and give the president powers to choose who to reinstate.
Supporters of Szydło’s governing Law and Justice (PiS) party have criticised Polish courts for taking too long to hear cases, and have accused judges of being an elite, self-serving clique often out of touch with the problems of ordinary citizens.