Position of the Association of Judges, “Themis”, in connection with the disciplinary actions against the authors of the questions referred for preliminary rulings

Further to Ewa Maciejewska, Regional Court Judge in Łódź, and Igor Tuleya, Regional Court Judge in Warsaw, being summoned by the Deputy Disciplinary Commissioner, Michał Lasota, to submit statements on the approaches they made to the CJEU for preliminary rulings, the Association of Judges, “Themis”, expresses the opinion that it is not the judges you summoned, but the Honourable Commissioner who overstepped his rights, thereby committing a disciplinary delict (tort).

Sending summonses to judges, which actually constitute the announcement of the institution of disciplinary proceedings against them, is an inadmissible form of pressure on these judges because of the judgments they have issued. The Commissioner’s conduct is not in line with any professional and legal canons and constitutes an unprecedented breach of judicial impartiality.

Every national judge, who files a question to the CJEU requesting a preliminary ruling, simultaneously acts as an EU judge, as a result of which he is entitled to two-fold guarantees of impartiality, namely guarantees arising from both national and EU law. Therefore, acting in the manner described above, the Commissioner is breaching both Article 178, para. 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, as well as Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

We would also like to point out that, by instituting disciplinary proceedings against these judges, the Deputy Commissioner, almost certainly unintentionally, confirmed the argument contained in Judge Igor Tuleya’s question requesting a preliminary ruling that the new disciplinary procedure has been politicized to such an extent that it can serve the purpose of exerting unacceptable pressure on judges.

This groundless disciplinary action of the Deputy Disciplinary Commissioner unequivocally confirms the legitimacy of the questions about the state of the rule of law in Poland and, simultaneously, constitutes a further step towards PolExit, as it indirectly undermines the effectiveness of EU law.