Polish Government Pushes for Judiciary Reform Despite President Duda's Veto

All three of the draft bills that envisage reform of the Polish judicial system will be adopted, despite the decision of country's President Andrzej Duda to veto two of them, Polish government spokesman Rafal Bochenek said Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Monday, Duda expressed his intention to veto two of the proposed bills that would reform the nation's judicial system — the first is on the Supreme Court and the second, the National Council of Judiciary. However, earlier on Tuesday, Duda signed the third proposed bill on ordinary courts.

"It is difficult to understand the president's decision to put a veto on laws on the National Council of Judiciary and the Supreme Court… We, on behalf of the Law and Justice party [PiS], and Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, listen to the voice of the Poles. From the very beginning the prime minister stressed that this reform would be implemented regardless of the president's veto," Bochenek said on state television.

The Polish government spokesman emphasized that 70 percent of Poles supported the reforms proposed by the PiS.

Bochenek also said that the country's prime minister would soon hold a meeting with Polish Minister of Justice Zbigniew Zebro to discuss the current situation and further steps.

"It would be a good reason to discuss in detail what to do in the current situation as the laws we have been working on are good laws," Bochenek stressed.

Earlier in July, the country's parliament introduced a set of draft laws to reform the judiciary system, in particular, a bill set to change the system of appointing the Supreme Court judges and to allow for the dismissal of all current judges not appointed by the justice minister himself. Another draft bill outlines amendments to the law on the National Council of Judiciary, under which the Parliament will appoint members of the Council.

The Polish opposition has criticized the proposed bills, as has Brussels. The European Commission discussed the matter, concluding that the reforms would have a very negative impact on the judiciary and would threaten the rule of law in Poland.

Poland has been facing mass protests amid the judicial reform and the demand by protesters for the president to veto all three laws.