Polish Constitutional Tribunal rules new changes to law partly unconstitutional

Poland's Constitutional Tribunal on Thursday ruled that a series of controversial changes to the legislation regulating its work, introduced by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, are partly unconstitutional.

The Tribunal declared as unconstitutional, among other points, the obligation for the tribunal president to permit three judges appointed by the PiS government, and the Constitutional Tribunal president's obligation to request the prime minister's approval for rules made by the body.

According to the ruling party, the amendment was "fully consistent with the Constitution."

Polish Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro said that any decision made by the Tribunal at a closed-door hearing would be a violation of the legislation in force. Leader of PiS Jaroslaw Kaczynski said the Tribunal was currently a "political tool, whose constitutional function is undefined."

In early July, the Polish government made some changes to its legislation regarding the constitutional court. Some amendments to the law were signed by Polish President Andrzej Duda on July 30, and published on the official gazette of the Republic of Poland earlier this week.

Fourteen days after publication, the new law will come into force.

The constitutional crisis began in November 2015. The newly-elected PiS government took a series of decisions, including sacking five judges appointed by the previous cabinet and installing new appointees. This deprived the Tribunal of control over judges and replaced a simple majority with a two-thirds majority necessary to take a decision on constitutional matters.

In January, the EU executive arm -- the European Commission -- intervened in the dispute.

In July, the European Commission urged Poland to respect the rulings of the country's Constitutional Tribunal, issuing a set of recommendations and giving Warsaw three months to comply. Endit