Human rights body reviews disputed legal changes in Poland

WARSAW, POLAND: Polish officials are trying to prove to the members of an international human rights body that recent changes to the Constitutional Tribunal are in line with the Polish constitution and European Union standards.

Members of the Venice Commission, a constitutional watchdog, are holding two days of meetings in Warsaw starting on Monday. The head of the commission, Gianni Buquicchio, is starting off by meeting Polish President Andrzej Duda.

The Polish government requested the review late last year after new laws regulating the constitutional court sparked street protests and the concerns of the European Union.

The Venice Commission is part of the human rights body the Council of Europe. Its findings, which are expected in a few weeks, are not binding.

EU executive eyes decision on rule of law in Poland mid-March

BRUSSELS: The European Union (EU) executive should come up with an assessment of the rule of law in Poland around mid-March, a spokesman said on Thursday after Brussels launched a probe into legal changes under a new conservative, Eurosceptic government in Warsaw.

The unprecedented move came less than three months after the Law and Justice (PiS) party won national elections in Poland and swiftly subjected public media to direct government control and changed the law on the constitutional court.

Under the procedure, the European Commission will now discuss with Warsaw its concerns that the changes eat into democratic principles. The main, though unlikely sanction, would be to strip Poland of its voting rights in the EU.

Poland's Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said on Wednesday the exchanges with the Commission could take months. But the Commission's spokesman, Margaritis Schinas, gave a much tighter deadline.

"The College (of Commissioners) gave a randez-vous meeting for mid-March that would allow for this structured and cooperative dialogue to conclude," Schinas told a regular news briefing on Thursday.

"The Commission hopes, and yesterday (Commission Vice-President) Frans Timmermans... was rather confident that this process by mid-March will lead to the sort of outcome that would allow the Commission to assess the situation."

Warsaw, where PiS promotes socially-minded economic policies along with ultra-conservative, Catholic values, says it has strong social mandate to carry out far-reaching changes.

The European Commission, where each of 28 EU countries has one official, will base its decision on a ruling by an advisory body on constitutional law to the Council of Europe, a 47-nation European rights organisation that works closely with the EU.

Poland has asked the so-called Venice Commission to comment on its changes to the law on the constitutional court and the body plans to adopt its conclusions on that matter at a plenary session due March 11-12.