We, the judges of the Republic of Poland and also European judges, declare that we will abide by the judgments of European tribunals and uphold European values.
Judgments of the ECtHR (Reczkowicz vs. Poland) and the CJEU and judgments issued by Polish courts based on them, including judgments of the Supreme Administrative Court of 6 May 2021 in the following cases: II GOK 2/18, II GOK 3/18, II GOK 5/18, II GOK 6/18, II GOK 7/18 and of September 21, 2021 confirmed the defectiveness of the judicial nominations to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Administrative Court and other courts. This is primarily the result of the politicization of the National Council of Judiciary(NCJ) and the appointment of this body in a manner inconsistent with the Polish Constitution. This state of legal chaos is the sole responsibility of the politicians of the currently ruling coalition, who have been subordinating the judiciary to themselves for four years, violating the rule of the separation of powers and ruthlessly enforcing the obedience of judges with the use of persecution and repression.
It is clear from today's CJEU judgment that the act of president's nomination has no healing power, and the persons appointed in such a procedure cannot issue a valid and stable ruling. Thus, further adjudication by persons appointed in the procedure with the participation of the neo-NCJ deprives citizens of the right to have their cases examined by an independent court established on the basis of the legal act and results in deepening legal chaos.
In order to minimize these consequences, we appeal to defectively appointed persons to refrain from adjudicating until the legislative authority introduces such legal mechanisms that will enforce the judgments of the CJEU and the ECtHR and eliminate the flaws in their appointments, and to judges to respect the judgments of European tribunals and ensure citizens of the right to a court by adjudicating only with legally appointed judges and eliminating defective judgments due to inadequate court appointment in situations provided for by law.
We express our solidarity with all judges who have been repressed by the political authority and some presidents of courts, including in relation to the implementation of the judgments of the CJEU and the ECtHR.
At the same time, we demand that the legislature immediately take steps to enable the election of the National Council of the Judiciary in a manner free from political influence and to restore this body's independence and ability to fulfill its constitutional tasks.