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Polish president blocks judiciary reforms after days of protests

Marcin Goclowski JULY 24, 2017 / 11:26 AM / 42 MINUTES AGO
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-poland-judiciary-idUKKBN1A914Q

WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish President Andrzej Duda on Monday said he would veto two of three bills passed by parliament in a judicial reform that has triggered nationwide protests and raised EU and U.S. concerns about a politicisation of the courts.

Duda is an ally of the ruling right-wing, eurosceptic Law and Justice (PiS) party and his move appeared to catch the government off guard, while producing only a guarded response from Brussels.

On Saturday, the upper house gave final approval to a bill that would remove all current Supreme Court judges immediately except those approved by the justice minister, who is also the prosecutor general.

Parliament had earlier passed a bill giving it the right to name most of the members of the National Council of the Judiciary, which would nominate future candidates for the president to appoint to the Supreme Court.

"I'm absolutely a supporter of this reform, but a wise reform," Duda said in a live statement announcing his veto on Monday.

"Reform in this form will not increase the sense of security and justice ... Change has to be done in a way that doesn't separate society and state."

The overhaul of the judiciary, coupled with a drive by PiS to expand its powers in other areas, including control of the media, has provoked a crisis in relations with the European Union and sparked one of the biggest political conflicts since Poland overthrew communism in 1989.

For days, tens of thousands of protesters have been gathering in cities including Warsaw, Krakow and Poznan for candlelight vigils, demanding that Duda veto the reforms.

The opposition and most legal experts say the changes violate the Polish constitution.

But the government has rebutted accusations that it is heading towards authoritarian rule. The PiS says the changes are needed to ensure courts serve all Poles, not just the "elites".

PiS lawmaker Jacek Sasin told the state broadcaster TVP Info that Duda's decision "may mean that we will have to wait much longer for the reform".

"Surprised and Disappointed"

PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski declined to answer reporters' questions as he headed into a hastily convened party leadership meeting, but Deputy Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he was "surprised and disappointed".

Duda met Prime Minister Beata Szydlo as well as the speakers of the two houses of parliament on Monday afternoon, but no details of their meeting were immediately available.

Some saw Duda's move as an attempt to improve his chances of winning a second term in 2020.

"This is all about getting the wavering electorate," Warsaw University political scientist Piotr Wawrzyk was quoted as saying by the state news agency PAP.

The EU executive, the European Commission, last Wednesday gave Poland a week to shelve the reforms, which Brussels says would put courts under direct government control. The United States, Poland's most important ally in NATO, also expressed concern.

The Commission opted to reserve judgement on Duda's move pending a discussion at its next meeting, on Wednesday. A senior EU diplomat said it was not clear at this stage whether the amendments that Duda was asking for would be more than cosmetic.

Opposition groups welcomed Duda's move, but urged him also to veto the third bill, which gives the justice minister the right to dismiss the heads of lower courts. The president signalled that he would approve this bill.

Duda's vetoes can in theory be overridden in parliament, but this requires a three-fifths majority with at least half of all legislators present, which PiS and its coalition partners are unlikely to be able to muster.

Anna Materska, a political scientist at the University of Warsaw, said Duda's decision to distance himself from a flagship PiS policy after previously appearing closely aligned to the party could be a political watershed.

"What happened required courage, but the president was backed against the wall and had no other option. This is a key moment in the events of the latest months, maybe even years."

Poland's political turbulence had helped to push its currency, the zloty, to three-month lows against the euro last week. On Monday, foreign investors greeted news of Duda's veto by boosting the zloty around 0.5 percent. [EMRG/FRX]

Reporting by Marcin Goclowski, Pawel Sobczak, Anna Koper, Pawel Florkiewicz, and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Kevin Liffey

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-poland-judiciary-idUKKBN1A914Q