National Council of the Judiciary

The National Council of the Judiciary (Polish: Krajowa Rada Sądownictwa) is a public body in Poland responsible for nominating judges and reviewing ethical complaints against sitting jurists.

The National Council of the Judiciary has 25 members: a representative of the President of Poland, the Minister of Justice, six members of parliament elected by it to serve four-year terms, the First President of the Supreme Court of Poland, the First President of the Supreme Administrative Court of Poland, and 15 judges elected by the "self-governments" to four-year terms.

The council was established in Articles 186 and 187 of the Constitution of Poland. As of 2017 Dariusz Zawistowski was chairman of the National Council of the Judiciary.

The National Council of the Judiciary is responsible for nominating judges to fill judicial vacancies; formal appointment is then made by the President of Poland.

In 2017 the Council of Europe criticized the inclusion of only six women members on the 25-member National Council of the Judiciary, and also the fact that the 15 self-elected judges served "joint" terms, meaning all 15 are replaced en masse every four years. According to the Council of Europe, this threatened the National Council of the Judiciary's continuity. Representatives of the governing Law and Justice Party also criticized the council for nominating judges it claimed privileged their personal political ideologies to protect former officials of communist-era Poland.

Under a 2017 draft law aimed at reforming the National Council of the Judiciary, the 15 judges nominated by the self-governments would, instead, be elected by the Sejm. On July 22, the upper chamber of parliament approved the bill by a vote of 55–23 with two abstentions. It was advanced to President Andrzej Duda for promulgation, though Duda ultimately vetoed the measure.

In November 2017 the measures were taken up again, earning "easy" passage the following month in parliament. On December 20, the European Union moved to impose "unprecedented disciplinary measures against Poland" over a series of other laws enacted which it claimed allowed the government to "interfere significantly" with the judiciary. The decision of the European Commission to call for implementation of Article 7 of the Treaty of the European Union marked the first time the process for stripping an EU member state of its voting rights had been initiated in the history of the European Union. In "defiance" of the EU move, Duda immediately signed into law the legislation restructuring the National Council of the Judiciary.

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Wikipedia