Towards the end of January 2017, the Polish Ministry of Justice introduced a bill reforming the current legal status of the National Council of the Judiciary. If passed as proposed, the bill would seriously undermine the independence of the judiciary in Poland.
After the main fundamental problems of the judiciary in Poland have been identified, the search for possible remedies is now on. Polish judges need to do some soul-searching and re-thinking of their role.
The Polish Judiciary is under duress, no question. However, it is not only the pending Supreme Court decision that may determine their fate. Polish judges need a new approach to judicial interpretation and the role of judges as a whole.
On Valentine’s day, the European Commission proposed “four targeted amendments” to the Comitology Regulation. In this blogpost it will be argued that while the proposal contains interesting elements, it is largely flawed from an institutional and constitutional point of view.
Political responsibility of Member States for sensitive EU executive action will be hard to get. But it is worth trying.
On Trump's state of mind, on Poland's latest twist in the Constitutional Tribunal drama, and on other crazy matters constitutional.
EU citizens living and working in the UK will, according to the House of Commons, not be ensured a right of residency after Brexit, as the government wishes to use them as bargaining chips with Brussels - a move both strategically misguided and morally indefensible. Now, all eyes are on the House of Lords.
What happened in Romania in the aftermath of the so called “Second Black Tuesday”? People were demonstrating on the street, Romanian authorities spoke up, the Constitutional Court came to rule twice, ultimately a popular referendum on anti-corruption measures is being discussed. Could this be a strong sign for the rule of law against the backdrop of corruption?
Has the new President of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal been lawfully appointed? This question is at the core of the latest act of the ongoing judicial drama in Poland. The Warsaw Court of Appeals has now referred this question to the Polish Supreme Court. Civil courts are called upon to at least partially fill the gap left by the subjugated Constitutional Tribunal in safeguarding the rule of law in Poland.
Erdoğan’s efforts to inscribe his understanding of presidential domination into the Turkish constitution should not be mistaken for a systematic turn towards a presidential model of government. The inbuilt inconsistencies of the reform may well develop some serious unintended side effects causing political deadlock and institutional breakdown in the long run.
13. September 2025
Giovanni Capoccia
12. September 2025
Anne Peters
12. September 2025
Anne Peters