Venice Commission recommends scrapping Poland's new disciplinary bill

The Venice Commission, an advisory body to the Council of Europe, issued an opinion on Thursday on Poland's draft disciplinary regime for judges, in which it recommended ditching the contested bill and seeking other solutions. A delegation of the Venice Commission visited Poland last week at the invitation of Senate Speaker Tomasz Grodzki, who sought its opinion before a vote on the bill in the Polish upper house. "The amendments of December 2019 ... diminish judicial independence and put Polish judges into the impossible situation of having to face disciplinary proceedings for decisions required by the ECHR, the law of the European Union, and other international instruments," the advisory body wrote.