Poland could lose its voting rights in Europe

POLAND could be stripped of voting rights in the EU after it passed a law removing judicial independence.

Despite days of protests and strongly worded threats from EU leaders, the country yesterday approved rules that could in effect bring its Supreme Court under the control of the ruling conservative Law and Justice party (PiS).

While still needing approval by Poland’s upper chamber of parliament, the move raises the prospect of the EU taking sanctions dubbed a ‘nuclear option’.

European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans warned the bloc was ‘very close’ to triggering the previously unused Article 7 procedure that would strip Poland of EU voting rights. It can be used against member states that repeatedly breach EU regulations.

Mr Timmermans said Poland’s reforms would place its judiciary under the control of its political leaders.

His warnings were echoed by European Council president Donald Tusk, a Pole, who said: ‘[The reforms] transport us, in the political sense, in time and in space: Backwards and eastwards.

‘Bringing judges under the control of the governing party… ruins an already tarnished public opinion of Polish democracy.

‘It has been a long time since Poland has been so talked about, and not for a very long time has the talk been so negative.’ Poland’s lower house, controlled by the PiS, voted 235 to 192 in favour of the law giving the justice minister power to select candidates for the Supreme Court.

The measure needs to be adopted by the PiS-controlled senate and signed by President Andrzej Duda to become law.

Political analyst Stanislaw Mocek, of the Polish Academy of Sciences, said: ‘The adoption of this reform violates the principles of the rule of law because it subjects the judiciary to political power. This paves the way for a non-democratic system in Poland.

‘The situation is very serious and could get out of hand. We don’t see a will for compromise on the part of PiS and the opposition is too weak.’

The measure is the latest in a slew of reforms that the PiS says are necessary to make the judicial system more effective.