Berlin. On the verge of an international March of Solidarity of judges for the Polish judiciary in Warsaw, the German Judges Association (DRB) urges the Polish parliament to stop the contested draft law on disciplining judges.
„The development in Poland is highly alarming. The government attempts more and more blatantly to undermine the independence of the judiciary and to bring courts under its control. We stand firmly side by side with our Polish colleagues who do not bend under that pressure and fight for the rule of law,“ the co-presidents of the German Judges Association, Barbara Stockinger and Joachim Lüblinghoff, said in Berlin this Saturday. „Today, representatives of the German Judges Association DRB are protesting together with their Polish colleagues against the deletion of the rule of law in Poland.“ Judges and lawyers from several European countries are going to support their Polish colleagues at the Silent March this Saturday.
Stockinger and Lüblinghoff said that the German Judges Association would not fade advocating the rule of raw and an independent judiciary with a clarion voice. „Poland alike Hungary is a fatal example for how a democracy, based on the separation of powers, is visibly being transfigured illiberally.“ Authoritarian politics were not interested in the separation of powers, in an independent judiciary, or in the freedom of press, opinion or assembly.
„If the Polish government decides to continue their meander, the European Commission will be required to impose more pressure on the government in Warsaw. The EU must take all steps necessary to protect the rule of law in all member states effectively,“ Stockinger and Lüblinghoff demanded.
A few weeks ago, the Polish ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party had gotten the disputed disciplinary draft law through the lower house of parliament (Sejm). Since the law was passed there, it was subjected to the Senate, the upper house which is dominated by the opposition. If the Senate decided to reject the law, the Sejm would have to decide again.
