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Polish president blocks judiciary reforms after days of protests

24 July 2017 19:19 (UTC +04:00)

Polish President Andrzej Duda on Monday said he would veto two of three bills passed by parliament in a judicial reform that has triggered nationwide protests and raised EU and U.S. concerns about a politicization of the courts, APA reports quoting Reuters.

Duda is an ally of the ruling right-wing, eurosceptic Law and Justice (PiS) party and his move appeared to catch the government off guard, while producing only a guarded response from Brussels.

On Saturday, the upper house gave final approval to a bill that would remove all current Supreme Court judges immediately except those approved by the justice minister, who is also the prosecutor general.

Parliament had earlier passed a bill giving it the right to name most of the members of the National Council of the Judiciary, which would nominate future candidates for the president to appoint to the Supreme Court.

"I'm absolutely a supporter of this reform, but a wise reform," Duda said in a live statement announcing his veto on Monday.

"Reform in this form will not increase the sense of security and justice ... Change has to be made in a way that doesn't separate society and state."

The overhaul of the judiciary, coupled with a drive by PiS to expand its powers in other areas, including control of the media, has provoked a crisis in relations with the European Union and sparked one of the biggest political conflicts since Poland overthrew communism in 1989.

For days, tens of thousands of protesters have held candlelit vigils in cities including Warsaw, Krakow and Poznan,demanding that Duda veto the reforms. Protests continued on Monday outside the PiS headquarters and Duda's office in Warsaw.