Lower-house Speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty issued an official notice starting the procedure to register candidates for judge seats on the National Council of the Judiciary, known (KRS).
The notice was published on Wednesday in the Monitor Polski official gazette, state news agency PAP reported.
The move comes days after Czarzasty urged President Karol Nawrocki to sign a bill that would change how the judge members of the KRS are selected.
Under current rules introduced in a 2017 law, passed under the previous Law and Justice (PiS) government, the lower house chooses 15 judge members of the KRS for a four-year term.
The term of the current judge members is due to end on May 12.
Czarzasty said on Tuesday that if the president did not sign the bill within two days, he would begin the selection process under the existing law. He argued that he was acting within the law, saying that the current system harms citizens because it fuels legal uncertainty.
The KRS is designed to safeguard the independence of the courts and plays a central role in judicial nominations.
Critics of the post-2017 model say that letting lawmakers choose judge members politicizes the body and clashes with Poland’s constitutional separation of powers.
The dispute has had practical consequences, because the status of judges appointed with the involvement of the KRS since 2018 has been challenged, with Poland’s current government citing rulings and standards set by the Polish Supreme Court, the Court of Justice of the European Union, and the European Court of Human Rights.
The new bill, passed by MPs on January 23, but not yet signed by the president, would shift the selection of the 15 judge members from parliament to all judges, voting in direct and secret ballots overseen by the National Electoral Commission.
One provision would also strip legal effect from steps taken under the current system to fill the KRS seats as the present term expires, if the reform takes effect.
Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said in a video posted on Wednesday that Czarzasty had to start the procedure under the current law while the reform bill remains on the president’s desk, adding that there were also signals from the presidential office that it could be vetoed.
“Today is a time of trial for us,” Żurek said, calling on judges to mobilize and choose “the best candidates” from across Poland’s different court types, expressing hope that the governing majority would respect that choice and help rebuild the KRS in line with constitutional and European standards.
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP