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EU Observer (16 December 2019)

The way Poland disciplined its judges gave rise to political abuse, a European anti-corruption watchdog has said, but Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party is to tighten the leash further still. 

"The way the current system has been set up, with the strong involvement of the executive in these proceedings (be it the minister of justice in disciplinary proceedings of ordinary judges or the president when it comes to the Supreme Court), leaves judges increasingly vulnerable to political control, thereby undermining judicial independence," Greco, an anti-corruption body at the Council of Europe, a pan-European watchdog based in Strasbourg, said on Monday (16 December).