The levering out of the separation of powers
The reconstruction of the Polish judiciary, 2017
Marta Bucholc, Maciej Komornik
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The national conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) that has been in office in Poland since the end of 2015 has de facto brought an end to the separation of power. With a wave of new laws, it first paralysed the constitutional court and then appointed almost the entire judiciary under the control of the executive. It has discredited the institutions of the constitutional state, accused judges of all official channels and legislative branches of whom it does not approve as being members of a post-communist clique, and on the basis of the new laws dismissed those who refuse to do their bidding. For the first time since 1989, when successors are appointed, the governing party is again playing a central role. Entirely in the spirit of the ideology of the PiS, a strong state, which professes to act in the name of the people, has emerged to replace the pluralistic division of power.
(Osteuropa 3-5/2018, pp. 7–18)