The Polish media outlet Rzeczpospolita has published the results of a recent survey in which Poles were asked about their opinion concerning the functioning of courts following the judicial reforms carried out by Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro.
Only 13.5 percent of Poles stated that the reforms have made courts work faster, while 71.9 percent were of the opposite opinion, including 44 percent who support the government, 86 percent of opposition voters and 88 percent of undecided voters.
Fifty percent of the respondents believe that the reforms limited the independence of courts — 23 percent of them are Law and Justice (PiS) voters, while 31.9 percent were of the opposite opinion.
Almost 57 percent of Poles believe that the judiciary reforms have submitted the judiciary to political authorities, while 29.9 percent of respondents disagreed with this notion.
The majority of surveyed Poles also fear that Ziobro’s reforms will risk Poland losing EU funds. The poll showed 64.3 percent of respondents believed so and only 20.7 percent had a differing opinion.
Approximately 56 percent of Poles agreed that the Polish government should comply with EU demands concerning the rule of law and remove the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court and restore the judges suspended by it.
Another 29.4 percent of Poles were against this idea and 14.7 percent did not have an opinion.
Rzeczpospolita underlined in its report that new judiciary laws were meant to reach parliament in November, but there have been many voices in the parliament’s backstage which suggest that these laws will be proposed in early 2022.
