The Venice Commission has outlined a way for judges of Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal to take their oath without the president being physically present if he refuses to hold the ceremony or delays it, RMF24 reports. The recommendation described by the news website comes with conditions: the oath must follow the appropriate form and be certified by a notarial deed presented to the president. It is an advisory opinion, not a change to Polish law or a ruling on the status of individual judges.
According to RMF24’s report published on 13 October, the Commission also called for guarantees that the president would receive the oaths of judges elected by the Sejm, Poland’s lower house of parliament, without delay. He should not claim the right to review their election. The option of taking an oath without his physical presence therefore concerns refusal or delay, rather than allowing the ceremony to be replaced by another procedure at will.
Dispute over six judges
The opinion addresses an issue at the centre of a dispute over six Constitutional Tribunal judges elected by the Sejm. RMF24 reports that President Karol Nawrocki received the oaths of Dariusz Szostek and Magdalena Bentkowska. In the case of the remaining four, he cited a failure to meet procedural requirements.
According to the website, those four judges took their oaths in the Sejm and sent the written oath texts to the President’s Office. However, the president of the Constitutional Tribunal, Bogdan Święczkowski, did not allow them to carry out their duties, citing the absence of information from the president confirming that their oaths had been received.
The distinction between the recommended procedure and an assessment of those earlier oaths remains important. The opinion described by RMF24 does not, in itself, establish that the steps taken by the four judges met the requirement for notarial certification, or that they have been allowed to hear cases.
The Venice Commission, formally the European Commission for Democracy through Law, is an advisory body of the Council of Europe. Its recommendation sets out a possible approach when the president does not receive an oath, but it does not replace the enactment of legislation or automatically resolve the dispute over whether the Constitutional Tribunal judges can perform their duties.
