"We have the right to reform the judiciary" – EURACTIV.com

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki once again defended the judicial reforms in his country yesterday, Wednesday. Morawiecki also presented his vision of the future of Europe

"Every country in the Union has the right to shape its own legal system according to its own traditions," said Morawiecki before the European Parliament in Strasbourg

. The government, recalling that "unity in diversity" and "constitutional pluralism" are fundamental principles of the EU and "non-empty buzzwords". "Respect for national identities" is an essential basis for Europe.

This week, a new law came into effect in Poland, lowering the age limit for Supreme Court judges to 65 years. As a result, 27 of the 73 judges have retired since Wednesday. However, some of them reject this change in the law and see reform as an attempt to fill vacancies with friendly judges of the ruling party.

Morawiecki on Poland and the future of the EU

do not lecture us. We know exactly how to manage our institutions, "said Morawiecki. He argued that reforms were needed to democratize a judicial system that had never been adequately reformed since the fall of communism in Poland.

The European Commission accuses Warsaw of restricting the independence of the judiciary and compromising the separation of powers, It has initiated proceedings under Article 7 of the EU Treaties against the country to badess the state of the law. In addition, a second case of offense was launched last week.

For his part, the Polish Prime Minister said that Europe is currently experiencing "a democratic awakening". This proves that we must relaunch the social contract responsible for the great success of post-war integration. According to Morawiecki, one of the reasons for the EU's crisis of confidence is that "people have a gene of freedom in themselves.

He added that the EU should work in the future to a "Union of Nations 2.0" – a reference to the Union of Nations advocated in the 1950s and 1960s by the United Nations. former French President Charles de Gaulle, This union of nation-states must focus on responses to digitization, industrial upheaval, common European security problems and greater civic engagement

MEPs criticize the Warsaw reforms

But MEPs are not particularly interested in Morawiecki's European projects for the future. Instead, they focused on the debate on the rule of law

. As for the reforms in Poland, there are "questions that concern us, they have had the opportunity today to explain these events, but they have not used them", said the chairman of the EPP Group, Manfred Weber, in the direction of Morawiecki.

S & D chief Udo Bullmann pointed out that the EU is a single entity "and we need both parties." We expect you to answer questions from the Commission's representative, Frans Timmermans, that we wholeheartedly support. "

The actions of the Polish government were also criticized by the leader of ALDE, Guy Verhofstadt, who reformed the judicial system, Referring to the results of the Venice Commission, said the PiS government reforms "have a striking similarity with the institutions of the Soviet Union and its satellite states."

Ryszard Legutko of the right-wing ECR conservative On the other hand, he Is complaining to his colleagues that their critics were "hopelessly predictable and predictable."

"Apparently, no one is willing to talk about the future Z of Europe. denigration of the Polog ne, "he suggested.