THE COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION AS A LAST RESORT OPTION FOR THE RULE OF LAW BACKSLIDING IN POLAND – A SPECIAL REVIEW OF THE POLISH JUDICIAL REFORM

TOŠIĆ Jovana (Autorka je doktorantkinja na Pravnom fakultetu Univerziteta u Beogradu), tosicjovana92@gmail.com

The latest judicial reform in Poland has provoked numerous reactions in the academic legal space for threatening the rule of law as one of the founding pillars of the European Union. A series of controversial, politically motivated judicial reforms have been discussed before the Court of Justice of the European Union on several occasions, where the Court successfully identified shortcomings of the reformed Polish judicial system. The Court even went a step further by applying an extensive interpretative method when it comes to its scope of jurisdiction, contrary to the previous cases of this kind where mainly technical issues were at stake. Although the Court has significantly contributed to the protection and preservation of the rule of law principle, the Union is still faced with a lack of general consensus on this matter, as political institutions insist on tackling the Polish question primarily as a discrimination issue, rather than a rule of law issue, even though the reverse approach would be much desirable. The hand-down of a CJEU final judgment in the latest case on Polish judicial reform is expected to take place in the coming period, which will be interesting to observe given the lack of general will and cooperation among the main political actors in fighting the rule of law backsliding in Poland. Finally, the current situation in Poland can certainly be perceived both as an external and internal danger, hence requiring more attention at all levels in the forthcoming period. The CJEU has come under the spotlight once again as a final arbiter of constitutional issues in the Union, as it has always been the case in times of crisis.

Keywords: Court of Justice of the European Union, constitutional law, Polish judicial system, rule of law, discrimination, European Union, European Commission