05 March 2021
The Rule of Law in Georgia
On March 1, Charles Michel, President of the European Council, visited Tbilisi to witness Georgia’s rapid descent into authoritarian rule, after an opposition politician was detained under questionable circumstances. The EU institutions’ experience of handling rule of law crises at home should inform its neighbourhood policy. Somewhat paradoxically, in this respect, the EU has greater leverage in its neighbourhood countries, like Georgia, than it has towards its internal problem states. Continue reading >>
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03 March 2021
Corona Constitutional #56: Wer gewinnt?
EU-Mitgliedstaaten, die ihre Justiz unterjochen, verletzen EU-Recht: das hat der EuGH in Luxemburg mit seinem gestrigen Urteil zum polnischen Nationalen Justizrat kraftvoll deutlich gemacht. Die PiS-Regierung in Polen darf nicht einfach den Rechtsbehelf gegen Entscheidungen des von ihr kontrollierten Justizrat mit einem gesetzgeberischen Federstrich abschaffen. Der Kanal zwischen unabhängigen polnischen Gerichten und dem EuGH muss offen bleiben – und gleichzeitig versucht die PiS verzweifelt, diesen Kanal zuzustopfen. Wer wird das Rennen gewinnen? Darüber diskutiert Max Steinbeis heute mit dem Verfassungsrechtsprofessor WOJCIECH SADURSKI von der Universität Sydney. Continue reading >>
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03 March 2021
Misjudging Judges
5231 magistrates from all over the EU had signed a letter to call the EU Commission to urgent action regarding the rule of law situation in Poland, Hungary and other member states. Unbelievably, Commissioners Reynders and Jourová, in their reply to the judges’ letter that transpired on 1 March, managed to make matters considerably worse. Continue reading >>23 February 2021
A Political Impasse, and How to Get Out of It
At the end of January, EU Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová addressed a letter to a Spanish MEP. In this letter, the Commissioner, using diplomatic language, expressed her concern that the reform of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), initiated by the ruling Spanish left-wing coalition PSOE-Unidas Podemos in September, could diminish the independence of this governing body of the Judiciary and thus of all judges and courts. Continue reading >>
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04 February 2021
Judiciaries Must Build Support in Societies
The continuous attack on the judiciary in Poland, starting with the subjugation of the Constitutional Court, have shown that legal safeguards provide only an illusionary protection in case both the national legislator and the Constitutional Court have been taken over by politicians who do not believe in the rule of law. Why is it relatively easy for governments to push judiciaries over? They have a fundamental weakness: their lack of connection with society. Judiciaries have a strong tendency to solely rely on legal protections, instead of also on public support. Continue reading >>30 January 2021
A Bolsonarist Cat Among the Pigeons
While the election of Kassio Nunes Marques in September 2020 was initially met with relief by some as he had no known links to the government, the new justice of Brazil’s Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) has since demonstrated his fidelity to the president that elected him. This could play a significant role in the future of Brazil given his likely being the deciding vote in an upcoming case on the existing conviction of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Continue reading >>26 January 2021
Witch Hunt against 14 Cracow Judges
Judges who have examined cases related to the reinstatement of Prosecutor Mariusz Krasoń have been and are being persecuted for their purely judicial actions. Krasoń called attention to the politicization of the prosecutor’s office in a May 2019 resolution adopted by the Assembly of Prosecutors of the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Cracow. As a result he was demoted, harassed, and his workplace was moved around 300 km from his residence. Over the last two months, the Internal Affairs Department of the National Public Prosecutor’s Office has summoned as witnesses 14 judges from five different benches of Cracow’s district, regional and appellate courts. The judges now face potential criminal charges of failure to fulfil obligations as public officials, punishable by up to three years of imprisonment (Art. 231(1) of the Penal Code). Their purported crime? Failing to persecute Prosecutor Krasoń. Continue reading >>21 January 2021
False Dilemma
On 29 December 2020, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, President of Ukraine, suspended the Constitutional Court’s Chairman Oleksandr Tupytskyi from office by Decree 607/2020. This step is part of his ongoing conflict with the Constitutional Court caused by Decision 13r-2020 of the Constitutional Court in late October 2020. Although the rule of law is being undermined in this conflict this is not due to the false dilemma between the rule of law and the fight against corruption as purported by the president. Continue reading >>
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05 December 2020
A Damaged Court Causing a Constitutional Crisis
In late October 2020, Ukraine’s Constitutional Court found major elements of Ukraine’s legal framework on combatting corruption unconstitutional. The decision was met with so much backlash that the rule of law in Ukraine is now at stake. Additionally, it has caused a deep rift within the Constitutional Court itself, which is currently unable to take decisions as a number of justices refuse to participate in proceedings. The decision has thus not only undermined the ongoing efforts to fight corruption but has thrown Ukraine into a veritable constitutional crisis. Continue reading >>
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02 December 2020