Attempts to politicise the judiciary in Poland, or how to kill two birds with one stone

The judiciary is political in a broad sense, as a branch of power (Hirschl 2007). This fact is not the same as the politicisation of the judiciary defined as the involvement of an institution in informal relationships or conflicts with public authority or political officials, disconnected to its legal responsibilities (Skrzypiński 2020). As the principle of RoL based on the independent and politically neutral courts has become not only one of the foundations of liberal democracy (Diamond 1999) but also the core of the European project and the EU laws, the attempts to politicise the judiciary in the MS are a blow against the fundamental values and common legal order. Since the Law and Justice came to power in Poland, it has taken steps to control the courts invoking the argument that the judiciary lacks democratic legitimacy. These actions are part of a wider trend of strong critic of the growing role for the law as the regulator of social relations, and the increasing impact of courts as institutions, which control the operation of the executive and legislative, expressed by the supporters of 'majority democracy'. For Polish politicians since 2015, attempts to introduce a new balance in the relationship between politics and the judiciary have two seemingly unrelated goals. Firstly, the aim is to lower the high level of public support for EU membership by showing that the strong reaction of EU institutions in defence of the RoL is nothing other than a limitation of MS sovereignty. Secondly, it is about removing an important EU' mechanism of control over the arbitrary power of the Law and Justice party. This trial to kill two birds with one stone under the pretext of fighting for values may, however, end in defeat, not only in national elections but also at EU level.