Reactions of International Organisations to 'Good Change' in Poland after 2015 ꟷ The Case of the Prosecutorial Service Act

In 2015, power was seized in Poland by Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS), which promised a reconstruction of the political system under the slogan „good change” in name of "recovering of Democracy". The materialisation of “good change” has led i. a. to changes in the justice system, including the prosecutorial service. The present paper has two main objectives. Firstly, to identify the presence of rhetorical instrumentalization of the defence of democracy in platform documents published by PiS and in statements by party members in parliamentary debates as they refer to changes in legislation reforming the prosecutorial service. The article also addresses the issue of whether the arguments presented in party documents and by PiS politicians during parliamentary debates de facto were reflected in the Prosecutorial Service Act as adopted. Secondly, to analyse the reactions of international organizations, especially European Union, to the changes made in the Polish court system. The selection of the prosecutorial service, is dictated by the fact that it is one of the primary state organs tasked with protecting the rule of law and human rights, key in materialization of the concept of “defence of democracy”. Without an effectively-functioning prosecutorial service, there can be no rule of law. International organizations, including the UN and the Council of Europe, regularly issue guidelines, opinions, and recommendations on the standards of the organization and functioning of the prosecutorial service, including as to the conduct of prosecutors. The opinions of external institutions, essentially objective, offering their views on the functioning of the prosecutorial service, are exceptionally important in the Polish context.