Piotr Gąciarek wants to return as soon as possible to what was his job for two decades: “I want to be in the courtroom again, listen to witnesses, give the floor to defense lawyers and prosecutors and then judge.” Gąciarek was a criminal judge, he has been involved in many difficult ones In cases of murder and organized crime, justice has been meted out.
For now, however, he has to content himself with checking the implementation of judgments that other judges have made in everyday disputes between neighbors and companies. “Basically, it’s an administrative activity,” he says. Leaning against the wall of his office in the Warsaw District Court is a poster with a picture of him looking stern in his judge's robes. “We support Judge Piotr Gąciarek,” it says.
This poster could be seen at many demonstrations against the restructuring of the judiciary by the national conservative PiS government in recent years. Gąciarek was one of the leaders of those judges who protested against PiS's attempt to bring the courts under political control. He paid for this with temporary suspension, reduction of his salary and demotion. After the PiS's defeat in the parliamentary elections in October last year, his supporters gave him the poster as a gift.
But although Poland now has a government that makes restoring the rule of law a priority, for Gąciarek the poster is not just a reminder of past struggles. The courts in Warsaw are still run by the people who were put into office by the PiS. And as long as that is the case, Gąciarek will not be able to work as a criminal judge – even though there is a court ruling in his favor in this matter.
The situation is similar in many places in the Polish justice system. The PiS people defend their positions tooth and nail. Months after the departure of the PiS government, these disputes once again reveal what was at stake in the dispute over the rule of law that the EU Commission has waged with Warsaw in recent years. What was at issue was not abstract principles, but rather the validity of equal rights for everyone. It was about whether laws are rules for coexistence in the state and society, or instruments of power to enforce the interests of a party.
The Constitutional Court against the Minister of Justice
Prosecutors appointed by Zbigniew Ziobro, the justice minister in the PiS government, delayed or closed investigations that were not in his interests. As court presidents, close followers of Ziobro ensured that cases that were politically sensitive or involved PiS supporters ended up with loyal judges. If prosecutors and judges were not impressed by this, or simply applied the judgments of European courts against Poland, they were subjected to disciplinary proceedings.
Because of systematic violations by the PiS government of the rule of law principles enshrined in the European Treaties, the EU Commission has blocked the disbursement of a large amount of money from Community funds to Poland. The Commission confirms that the new government is on the right track in restoring the rule of law.
And she is honoring that: on Friday last week, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced in Warsaw that the financial resources would now be released. This is a gigantic sum – a total of more than 130 billion euros, which Poland will receive in the coming years. This is a triumph for Prime Minister Donald Tusk. During the election campaign, he promised to ensure that the EU money, which many municipalities and companies were eagerly awaiting, finally flowed to Poland.
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