New Polish justice minister will seek ‘any niche’ to undo rule of law breaches

Poland’s new justice minister has vowed to “find any niche in the legal system” that will allow him to push through reforms, as he starts work to reverse the rule of law breaches carried out under the previous government.

Adam Bodnar, a law professor and former human rights ombudsman, was elected to Poland’s upper house of parliament in the October election and became justice minister last Wednesday, part of a new government led by prime minister Donald Tusk.

On Bodnar’s first day in office, he returned European Union flags to his office and other parts of the building, where they once again stand alongside Polish national flags. He also signed a motion for Poland to join the European public prosecutor’s office, an independent body that has been joined by 22 of 27 member states.

“We wanted to show Brussels that we are of good faith and we are really going to bring the recovery of the rule of law in Poland,” said Bodnar, in his first print interview since becoming minister.

Bodnar’s ministry is key to the new government’s plans to reverse the damage done to Poland’s judicial system during eight years of rule by the Law and Justice (PiS) party, which led to a sustained clash with the EU and the freezing of tens of billions of euros of funds earmarked for Poland.

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Already in his first week, Bodnar has cancelled the appointment of six regional court “presidents”, appointed by his predecessor Zbigniew Ziobro just before leaving office and considered to be political appointees. Bodnar said he then wrote to court judges asking them to shortlist two or three candidates for court presidents, from which he would select one.

“I sent a signal to the judicial community that I will listen to you, I’m not going to take my presidents out of the hat and put them into the position, like Ziobro did,” he said.

Bodnar said creative thinking and careful legal manoeuvring would be key to navigating what some analysts have referred to as the “legal minefield” left by PiS, with numerous ostensibly neutral state bodies controlled by political appointees who are in place for fixed terms. “I will try to … find any niche in the legal system. I will try to do everything that is possible to repair the justice system, but I’m not going to go for shortcuts,” he said.

When it comes to reforms requiring actual legislation, the Tusk government has its work cut out, however, as the PiS-allied president Andrzej Duda remains in office until 2025 and has veto power over the parliament. Duda has made it clear he does not approve of the new government, stalling for two months over its appointment and criticising its first moves in office.

Bodnar said he hopes that, in time, Duda may become more amenable to working with the government, or at least not actively blocking it, perhaps with one eye on a potential international career after he leaves the presidency. “You never know,” he said.

So far, there has been little sign of that. On Wednesday, Duda slammed the decision by the culture minister earlier this week to fire the bosses of state television and radio, which had functioned as a mouthpiece for the PiS government. “These are completely illegal actions,” Duda told Radio Zet. “This is anarchy.”

The Polish rightwing’s newly acquired concern for media freedom has been widely derided as hypocritical, but some rights activists have also said the new government’s actions used legal loopholes and risked setting a dangerous precedent.

Bodnar said it was important to find a way to remain within legal boundaries but still deliver on the government’s priorities. “At this stage, people would not accept that we are just allowing things to continue,” he said.

When it comes to the justice ministry, Bodnar said his priorities for the first year in government included introducing a new law on the National Council of Judiciary, the body responsible for nominating judges in Poland, whose independence was eroded under PiS. He also hopes to “do some reparative works” on the constitutional court.

Another question will be to what extent criminal cases may be pursued against representatives of the PiS government over abuses of power. Bodnar said there could not be any talk of an amnesty or of an agreement not to pursue cases for the sake of political calm.

“We should fight for accountability, if there is a violation of law, then people should face responsibility,” he said. He added that one of his deputies is working on an audit of various funds in the justice ministry under his predecessor Ziobro, including one that was used to buy the spyware Pegasus.

“In this ministry they were doing so many things so openly, with such a level of abuse that sooner or later we’ll get to those important issues,” he said.