Polish President Karol Nawrocki’s Court Reform Rejected by Venice Commission

The Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional law, adopted a critical opinion on President Karol Nawrocki’s draft law to restore the right to a court and speed up proceedings. The opinion warns that the proposal could allow imprisonment of judges for up to ten years, restrict judges’ membership in associations and ban any questioning of constitutional bodies such as the Constitutional Tribunal and the National Council of the Judiciary.

Member of parliament Paweł Śliz (Poland 2050) told journalists that “the opinion is strongly crushing,” adding that judges must not be penalised for their judicial activity. Deputy Minister of Justice Dariusz Mazur echoed the commission’s view, stating that the draft is “fundamentally incompatible with human‑rights standards.” The bill, sent to the commission by Sejm speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty, was described as harmful to judicial independence and the separation of powers, prompting the commission to recommend halting further legislative work.