Polish Justice Reform Stalls as Parliamentary Committee Lacks Quorum

After a half‑year pause, a Sejm committee on Justice and Human Rights convened to begin detailed work on a government‑proposed justice reform that would alter the status of judges appointed after 2018. The draft bill seeks to invalidate National Council of the Judiciary decisions on appointments from 2018‑2025, re‑classify judges into different status groups, potentially strip some of their judicial status, abolish the Supreme Court’s Extraordinary Chamber and the extraordinary complaint procedure, while leaving existing rulings largely intact.

The meeting was abruptly halted because the committee did not achieve a quorum. Vice‑chair Patryk Jaskulski of the Civic Coalition cited members’ absence due to duties in other committees, State Tribunal work, plenary sessions and medical appointments, and announced a new attempt to reconvene the next day. The stalled legislation, framed by the government as a "rule‑of‑law" measure, is controversial and raises constitutional concerns, affecting citizens awaiting final judgments and businesses seeking legal certainty.