Poland's Constitutional Court Crisis: Duda signs controversial amendments to law

European Commission estimates changes as part of preliminary assessment of rule of law in the country

Poland's President Andrzej Duda signed amendments to the law on the Polish Constitutional Court which had been the issue of dispute between the government and the opposition since last year.

This is reported by Ukrinform referring to the Polish President's Office.

"The new law on the Constitutional Court resumes the decisions envisaged in the 1997 Constitutional Court law and brings court-related legal provisions into line with the Constitution", reads a statement.

The constitutional crisis hit in Poland in November last year. The government and the opposition accuse each other of violating the law while appointing the Constitutional Court judges, which led to deepening the crisis and complicating operations of this unity. In January the European Commission intervened in the dispute, starting preliminary assessment of the rule of law in Poland.European Parliament says democracy under threat in Poland

Poland can even be stripped of its EU Member State voting rights for violating European values.

In early July, the European Commission said it will assess the new law on the Constitutional Court in Poland within the previous assessment of the rule of law once the legislative process in Poland is complete. A few days ago, the Commission recommended Poland to implement the Constitutional Court decision as of last December concerning the selection of Constitutional Court judges, and that as of March - on unconstitutionality of amendments to the Constitutional Court law, approved by the new government.

Instead, Polish Foreign Minister stated on this occasion that the European Commission decision to provide their recommendations in terms of changes to the Constitutional Court law is premature and could negatively affect the credibility of the whole institution.

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