Confederate press conference attended by Michał Wawer and Bartłomiej Pejo on the proposal of the Constitutional Reset, 18 January 2024.
Michael Waver:
– As promised last week, we present present a draft of assumptions and a plan of work on the constitutional reset. We do this without large hope, of course, due to the fact that already this week in the Sejm we had a show of what both the Law and the Platform considers about constructive, substantive solutions. On our proposal to postpone the gathering and not to make legally questionable decisions by the Sejm, on our proposal to sit down instead, negotiate, think about what to do with the Polish strategy of the law of public institutions, which is simply scattered, Platform and Law and the Law and Justice have responded with compatible votes against. Hand in hand this motion was rejected and passed over it, as if nothing, to the conventional Polish-Polish war, screams, disputes and making 1 large fight with Polish politics.
We're at a very hard time. At a dramatic minute for the Polish constitutional order. The 2 largest parties: the ruling coalition and the largest opposition organization now live practically in 2 different legal orders. They respect another institutions as legal, deny any officials and judges, appointed by the another side, democratic and legal legitimacy. They refuse to give legitimacy to decisions of the talker of the Sejm or the ultimate Court or the Constitutional Court. They already have a different imagination of what the correct, legitimate composition of the Sejm looks like! We are on a consecutive way to either paralyze the Polish State and scope a point where we will not be able to simply function normally. Where anarchy will take place. Or to the point where it could just turn into political violence, as we have seen before in planet history.
We're 1 step distant from individual questioning the election results. 1 step distant from being challenged by thousands of judgments passed over the last six or 8 years by a full army of judges who are denied legal legitimacy by 1 of the parties to this dispute. He claims that they were wrongly appointed by illegally appointed authorities.
This problem, if we are to function as a state, if we are to keep up with the remainder of the world, must be solved and cannot be resolved unilaterally. There's no way. It is no longer possible for 1 organization to win the election and impose its solutions on another.
The only way to get out of this wedge is to get to national approval, to adopt fresh constitutional regulations.. Not necessarily in the form of the full Constitution, but simply in the form of certain amendments, certain changes, certain shufflings in the most crucial state institutions, to which everyone will agree! Without the consent of all, without the approval of the ruling coalition, PiSu and the voters represented by the Confederation, there will be no restoration of the regulation of law. There will be no restoration of the single legal system.
Today, we come out with a task of assumptions, with a road map, how can this happen? There's nothing in the stone here. What we propose is simply a certain starting point for talks, for negotiations. We are completely open to suggestions, proposals, constructive, acceptable changes of anyone who will be curious in talking in a patriotic and substantive spirit about the reinstatement, the actual restoration of the regulation of law in Poland. What we believe is necessary, according to our first analysis, to be able to actually resolve this conflict, to avert this gigantic crack, we have included on this board in 3 key points.
After me, my colleague Pejo will present a work plan not only with another politicians, but besides with experts, to make it even more specific, to practice it in the fire of public criticism – so as to accomplish something that, perhaps, in our very courageous ones, we realize it, any would say naive dreams, could in the coming months lead to the cessation of the Polish-Polish war.
What do we think is necessary? First of all, The ultimate Court, the Constitutional Court and the National Judicial Council, the purification of the most politically involved. People identified as politically involved, on the 1 hand and on the other. specified as are unacceptable to at least 1 organization to the political dispute.
Secondly, the preparation of an amendment to the Polish Constitution and the selection of fresh compositions of the ultimate Court, the Constitutional Court, the National Judiciary Council. In order to be able to decision forward, we simply request to put out the current mandates in these key judicial bodies. It is hard to say whether it is valid, due to the fact that both sides have conflicting visions here. We so request a single constitutional law, unanimously adopted, which will put an end to the current mandates of judges sitting in the 3 most crucial judicial institutions and will elect a fresh composition. possibly in any part consisting of the same persons, but a fresh composition selected for fresh term. This is besides to be worked out what these terms are to be, due to the fact that simply the current constitutional system, we see clearly that it has proved to be defective. He created an opportunity, created this rift, a loophole that led to this current crack.
And what would be the most important, in fact, part of this constitutional reset, is that it would be a consensus, by all parties to the political dispute, acceptable to the country as a whole, the composition of these 3 most crucial bodies, in peculiar the Constitutional Court, which is the most crucial judicial organisation, which has the right to settle disputes on all another issues.
We request a Constitutional Court with undisputed authority. People who, even if they decide something not according to 1 of the parties to the dispute, will accept it, due to the fact that they will have assurance in these judges that they act according to their best judgment, according to their authentic beliefs, having at heart sworn oaths and the welfare of Poland. Not that they're acting on a political assignment and following instructions from organization heads. This can be imagined, both in this composition and in the form of its action, in very different ways, and that is what we want to talk about. surely it cannot be that the full composition will be called in bulk for another seven- or nine-year term, in the case of the Constitutional Court, and in a fewer years it will come the minute that the fresh majority of the parliament after the expiry of this word will set up a completely fresh composition under its dictatorship. Of course not. Here we besides request to talk about whether we can arrange this word in a stairway, that for any judges it will expire after e.g. 3 years, then for any after another six, and after another nine; whether we can even consider the American variant, i.e. the appointment of judges to this most crucial body for a lifetime, until death or erstwhile the justice resigns, so that these judges are completely independent, so that even the thought of a future career after working in the Constitutional Court does not affect their impartiality and independence. This is all yet to be worked out. 3rd point, the defence of the ultimate Court, the Constitutional Court and the National Judiciary Council. That's what I said.
We request non-partisans, unbound instructions to delegate them to the organization body. There are lawyers in Poland. Really. We may be impressed by what is happening on TV, that Polish lawyers are divided into members of the Iustitia Association and delegated by the Law and Justices to the National Judicial Council of organization officials. But it's not!
Most lawyers in Poland, a very large part of legal authorities, law faculty scientists, these are people who are not party-tangled., unattached with any organization loyalty, critically looking at this dispute which breaks up Poland, and critically looking at their colleagues in the profession who, acting on behalf of 1 of the main parties, Poland simply destroys and destroys the Polish legal order. These 3 points are the starting point, these are the key assumptions that we want in further debate and with experts, and with the another parties to clarify, or to revise, if necessary, so as to lead to a real reconstruction of the Polish judiciary, Polish tribunals, and yet the full Polish legal order. How does this road look? I would like to ask you to introduce Mr Bartholomew Pejo.
Bartholomew Pejo:
– Ladies and gentlemen, all Poles have no uncertainty that Polish judiciary, Polish regulation of law, is politicized, as Wawer said. Time to end this Polish-Polish war. It's time to end the judges who work on the orders of politicians. It is time for politicians to sit down and comply with the constitutional reset.
We propose this solution, which, in our opinion, is the only way to calm down and bring to a state that will yet be law-abiding, to a state that will have completely unpolitical judges and judges who will objectively approach their work.
Despite the difficulties that we announcement of course, and the political situation that prevails in fresh times – this is the Polish-Polish war between PiS and the ruling coalition – we announcement the difficulties that will be in specified talks or in general the approach and desire for specified talks, but we sincerely hope that politicians will come to their senses and yet sit down and establish principles with us.
We declare that, as Confederate politicians, we are able to be in the mediate of these political talks. Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to present to you a road map, which includes, above all, the political assumptions of the changes.
The first proposal was just presented. We want this map to include consultations with constitutionalists. We besides want a political consensus to be reached. We want to draw up the final version of the amendment to the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, and yet adopt this amendment.
It all seems very simple, it will be very difficult, but we believe and hope that this is feasible.
We call on all politicians, all political options, all political clubs to sit down and bring about a constitutional resetwhich is essential for the state to proceed to function completely normal. We invitation all political options, and one more time I will say that we hope, despite the difficulties, that political parties will enter into talks, at least in the first ones, and they will besides propose their solutions due to the fact that that is what we expect. We do not impose these solutions! We want to sit together and just discuss this proposal.
