MAIN POINTS
1
In its judgment in case C‑521/21, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) held that a judge appointed in Poland under the rules in force since 2018 (following the judicial reform implemented by the Law and Justice government and contested by the European Commission and the then Polish opposition) cannot automatically be regarded as lacking “independence and impartiality.” This thesis challenges the position of Waldemar Żurek, the Minister of Justice in Donald Tusk’s government, who calls for removing the vast majority of such judges from office and annulling the judgments they have issued until now.
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At the same time, the CJEU suggested that Polish courts may disregard the binding national provisions (as well as the judgments of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal relating to them) concerning the lack of possibility of recusing a judge due to the timing of the judge’s appointment. On this occasion, the CJEU again affirmed the primacy of EU law over the Polish Constitution and arrogated to itself the right to adjudicate on matters concerning the organization of the judiciary in the Member States, which the Polish Constitutional Tribunal had previously deemed ultra vires actions of the CJEU.
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It should indeed be clearly emphasized once again that the European Union has no competence to decide on the organization of the Polish judiciary or of the judiciary of any other EU member state and that such CJEU decisions should not be applied by Polish courts.
On March 24, 2026, the Court of Justice of the European Union delivered the judgment in Case C‑521/21. The judgment was a response to the request for a preliminary ruling from the Poznań-Stare Miasto District Court in Poznań, made in the context of a civil dispute. The presiding judge of the adjudicating panel was Judge Bartłomiej Przymusiński, the current president of the judges’ association “Iustitia.” This association is known for having been involved for years in a political dispute on the side of the current government against the judicial reforms passed by the Polish parliament in 2017.
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Source of cover photo: iStock
