European Institute

By: Joseph Bebel, Washington D.C.

In early July, members of the Polish Law and Justice Party (PiS) introduced three controversial bills that would subjugate Poland’s legal system to increased political control. PiS Party Leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski justified the actions as necessary to  purge the “sick” judiciary of supposed Communist influence.  Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans decried the proposed legislation as a clear and “systemic threat to the rule of law” in Poland. Timmermans even went so far as to say that to threaten that the Commission is “coming very close to triggering Article 7,” which would suspend Poland’s voting rights in the bloc.