Hardline Polish government makes surprise concession to EU over Supreme Court

Polish president Andrzej Duda has backtracked on a controversial law that suspended members of the country's supreme court after an international backlash and protests across the country.

The government pushed through an amendment on Monday suspending parts of the law that forced judges into early retirement, a rare example of the country stepping back from a conflict with the EU and adopting a more conciliatory approach.

Mr Duda put his signature to the amendment just hours after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) - an EU body - ordered Poland to reinstate supreme court judges who had been forced to retire or face financial penalties.

The law, which came into effect in July, saw 22 supreme court judges forced to quit their posts before the expiration of the constitutional term. 

The law was criticised for being a legal veil for a government-orchestrated purge of judges who did not align politically with the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS), and thousands protested in cities across the country.

Mr Duda on Tuesday suggested that Poland was implementing the injunction only to relieve pressure from Brussels for now, not because it agreed with the decision politically, and that the ruling would not derail the government's programme.

"I've decided that it is necessary to comply with the injunction, irrespective of whether it should have been given by the (ECJ)... and whether it goes beyond the tribunal's competencies," he told state agency PAP.

He added that the fact some supreme court judges had returned to work even before the amendments took effect amounted to a breach of the constitution. "We have a situation where some elitist judges consider themselves to be above Polish law just because they do not like it," he added.

Since coming to power in 2015, PiS has struck a strident EU-sceptic tone, clashing with Brussels over the environment, migration and the rule of law. 

In response, the European Commission in December 2017 took the unprecedented step of triggering Article 7 against Poland, which could result in the country losing its voting rights, owing to a “systemic threat” to democracy and the rule of law.

The government had argued that forcing supreme court judges aged 65 and over was necessary to remove communist-era judges and improve efficiency.

Jaroslaw Gowin, Poland’s deputy prime minister, said the court’s ruling “isn’t a big blow to the reform programme,” leading to speculation that the government will continue to push policies that cause friction with the EU.

An October opinion poll revealed that 84 per cent of respondents would vote to remain in the EU in a referendum, including 76 per cent of PiS supporters, indicating that Poland remains one of the most pro-EU states on the continent.

If the PiS wins a second term in the 2019 elections, it will have more time and flexibility to complete reforms designed to cement its power as a virtual state party, analysts say.

"There so many areas that need to be modernised, even ploughed up, that to make Poland a modern country free from the burden of the past, we need not two but at least three terms," PiS chief Jaroslaw Kaczynski, seen as Poland's de facto leader, told right-wing Gazeta Polska daily earlier this year.

In recent weeks PiS leaders have stressed their commitment and loyalty to the EU despite their differences with Brussels.

“They know that they have to be more moderate. They’ve realised that the EU is a mobilising factor for Poles," says Wojciech Przybylski, editor in chief of Visegrad Insight, a publication specialising in Central European affairs.

"The Court of Justice has shown that it can have an effect of domestic politics.”