Damian Sigan: What does the case of Mariusz Kaminski and Maciej Vasik tell us about the state of the justice system? We may soon face a situation when… Two conflicting decisions will come out of the Supreme Court on the same issue.
Piotr Trudkowski: We are now seeing the results of legal dualism and the parallel legal reality that has been created over the last eight years, unfortunately, in solidarity with both sides.
On the one hand, PiS implemented changes in the justice system, ignoring far-reaching criticism of these changes and creating a number of doubts about their correctness. On the other hand, opposition groups, both political and legal, have pushed PiS's actions with very radical rhetoric, thereby canceling legal decisions whose constitutionality should be presumed until the Constitutional Tribunal makes a decision.
But the composition of the Constitutional Tribunal is also under question.
Therefore, today we live in two legal realities, in which not only the ordinary citizen does not have the chance and opportunity to orient himself, but also, as we see, even at the highest level of government – from the speaker of the Seimas, through the deputies to the chambers of the Supreme Court – there is no agreement on the interpretation of the actual situation in which we find ourselves. This is a very bad and very dangerous situation, which opens up an even more dramatic perspective.
what do you mean?
A situation where today's opposition, or PiS, with the same rhetoric used by critics of this party in recent years, will start talking about how we don't have a Sejm in Poland because it was wrongly appointed, just as the other side talks about neo-judges. And only after that, a hellish political and systemic crisis will begin, the consequences of which are very difficult to predict.
Is either side ready to back down?
Unfortunately, there are no such signals, and this, in my opinion, is the most disturbing. We need a situation in which both sides show the will to compromise and break out of this deadlock, in order to ensure the stable functioning of the highest state bodies in the long term. Because that's what today is about.
Where are we when it comes to public media? In this case, as well as in the case of the expiration of the parliamentary mandates of Kaminski and Vesik, did the voters of the new government win the expectation that they would somehow hold PiS accountable? And it doesn't matter if it's legal or not.
I have no doubt that the “Rush” method of making changes in the public media was intended to symbolize the change of government and to prove that the new team is determined to implement certain decisions without legal circumstances. I think that in the case of Kaminski and Vesik there may be more coincidence, surprise and lack of awareness of how dangerous a situation we are dealing with from a political perspective.
I believe this case threatens to create a crisis of confidence in the political system at least as great as the envelope election if it is held in May 2020. that a significant part of the citizens no longer recognize the legitimacy of the Seimas, the laws. He issues, etc. It seems to me that even politicians make decisions Under the direction of Marshall Holonia, they didn't think these results would be so far-reaching. Just like the drafters of the regulations created under the PiS government, they did not expect such serious doubts to arise.
And what to do about it?
Unfortunately, there is a problem here, which is the lack of legitimacy of the Constitutional Tribunal and the fact that it is not generally seen as the highest body reviewing constitutionality or adjudicating competence disputes between public authorities. If we had a constitutional tribunal whose legitimacy we all agree on, we would be able to get out of this crisis. Without a new opening, without an offer of universal recognition and restoration of confidence in the judiciary, we will not come out of the crisis, but find ourselves in an ever tighter circle.
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