In October 2021, Poland was ordered to pay one million euros ($1.13m) for maintaining the disciplinary chamber for judges set up by the conservative nationalist Warsaw government. The European Union (EU) had ordered this with harsh sanctions. Polish President Andrzej Duda on 3rd February 2022, has submitted legislation to get through the above decision and allow the government to end a dispute about the rule of law with Brussels and unblock European Union funding.
Through the Legislation regarding the amendments to the Supreme Court Act, the authorities want to solve two major issues. It not only supposed to ensure the existence of a normal, reasonable mechanism for holding legal professionals liable which includes the judges. But as the present situation is unstable and unmanaged, these changes there will solutions.
According to the statement by President Duda, “This bill … is due to give the Polish government an instrument to end the row with the European Commission and unblock the national recovery and resilience (funds).” Further, he said, “I want to give the government a tool to end the dispute with the European Commission,” Duda said in a statement to reporters in Warsaw after announcing his proposal. “This dispute is not what Poland needs right now.”
President Duda has expressed that the judges sitting at the Disciplinary Chamber will find a place in other chambers of the Supreme Court. This way they will be able to work for the country as well as the citizens. Also, the judges who wish not to be transferred will be given the choice to retire as well. The president will have 11 judges from the thirty selected and they will serve for about 5 years in the Chamber of Professional Responsibility.
