During the meeting, Vice-President Jourová praised the actions of the Ministry under the leadership of Minister Bodnar. She stressed that the urgent restoration of the rule of law and respect for democracy is in the interest of Polish citizens.

Minister Bodnar expressed his hope that further implementation of the reforms of the judiciary will lead to the termination of the procedure initiated against Poland under the Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union. This procedure is initiated against countries where there is a risk of "a serious breach of the EU values by a Member State".

After the meeting, Minister Bodnar and Vice-President Jourová took part in a joint press conference. The Minister of Justice thanked the Vice-President of the European Commission for her visit to Poland and for the support that the management of the Ministry receives from the European Union in the process of restoring the rule of law.

"We discussed the progress in implementing the plan to restore the rule of law and to repair the Polish judiciary that  I have presented  in Brussels a few weeks ago. Work is currently underway in the Sejm on an amendment to the law on the National Council of the Judiciary. Further bills are in preparation and will soon become the subject of parliamentary work" said Minister Bodnar.

According to Věra Jourová, respect for the European law and the independence of judges are the foundations of a democratic civil society. She also stated that the reforms of the Polish Ministry of Justice will speed up court proceedings and rebuild the trust of Poles in the judiciary.

"This is not about Brussels, but about the citizens of Poland, who deserve a strong democracy and an independent judiciary," stressed the Vice-President of the European Commission, who visited Warsaw as part of the so-called Democracy Tour. Its main goal is to strengthen the resilience of democracy in the EU ahead of the upcoming European elections and to counter disinformation, information manipulation and foreign interference.

The re-implementation of the principles of the democratic rule of law in Poland is a priority for the current management of the Ministry of Justice. Minister Bodnar is the chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Team for the Restoration of the Rule of Law and Constitutional Order, which was established on the first day of the work of the new government. The result of their work is creation of the Polish Action Plan for Restoring the Rule of Law, which the Minister of Justice presented on 20 February at a meeting of the General Affairs Council of the European Union. The main elements of the reform refer to the National Council of the Judiciary, the Constitutional Tribunal, the Supreme Court, the independence of the judiciary from the executive branch, and ensuring the compliance of the Polish and EU law. It should be stressed that all steps taken by the Ministry are subject to public consultation and dialogue with representatives of the judiciary. It is in the interest of the Polish government to create conditions, in which judicial independence, protected by Article 19 of the Treaty on European Union and the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, can be fully guaranteed.

It is also worth recalling that it was the implementation of the Action Plan that paved the way for the unlocking of almost 600 billion zlotys from the National Recovery Plan. These resources will be allocated, among others, to the construction of bypasses and the installation of traffic surveillance devices, the purchase of equipment, and the modernization of infrastructure in the agri-food sector, and the implementation of the "Maluch+" and "Clean Air" programmes. 

Press Office
Ministry of Justice