"I, Maciej Berek, take an oath before the president." Ceremony in the Sejm

Maciej Berek took the oath in the Sejm

I, Maciej Berek, take the oath before the president. I solemnly swear, in the performance of the duties entrusted to me as a judge of the Constitutional Tribunal, to serve the nation faithfully, to guard the constitution, and to perform the duties entrusted to me impartially and with the utmost diligence, Maciej Berek vowed in the Sejm.

More information soon.

The decision to hold the ceremony was made late yesterday evening, following the publication of the opinion of the Venice Commission, allowing the taking of the judicial oath without the presence of the president.

Why is the oath taking place only now, when Berek was elected by the Sejm on September 4?

Maciej Berek, former minister of supervision over the implementation of government policy, was elected by the Sejm as a judge of the Constitutional Tribunal on September 4. The office of President Karol Nawrocki sent a letter to the Chancellery of the Sejm regarding "explanation of the circumstances of the formal processing of Berek's candidacy", and the head of the presidential office, Zbigniew Bogucki, stated that "there are enormous doubts as to whether Minister Berek has ten years of experience as a legal advisor."

The head of the Chancellery of the Sejm, Marek Siwiec, replied in a letter to President Karol Nawrocki that questioning the correctness of the election of a Constitutional Tribunal judge by the Sejm "is not supported by any regulations." He also noted that the Speaker of the Sejm, Włodzimierz Czarzasty, expected the immediate acceptance of the oath by Constitutional Tribunal judge Maciej Berek. However, it did not happen.

Even before the Sejm elected a new judge of the Constitutional Tribunal, Berek published on social media a certificate from the Dean of the District Council of the Chamber of Legal Advisors, according to which, by a resolution of 2002, he was entered on the list of legal advisors and has been authorized to practice the profession since the day of his oath until now. The document also indicates that Berek registered his practice as a legal advisor in the period from January 1, 2006 to July 31, 2009 and from August 1, 2012 to the present.

The Sejm of the current term has elected eight judges, the president has not taken the oath of office from four

Maciej Berek is the eighth person elected by the Sejm of the current term as a judge of the Constitutional Tribunal. Of the seven previously elected, President Karol Nawrocki did not take the oath from four of them. In the case of these four, according to representatives of the president's office, there were mistakes in the Sejm. Therefore, four judges took an oath during the ceremony in the Sejm, stating that they were doing so "in front of the president". The president considers this to be an oath; the president of the Constitutional Tribunal, Bogdan Święczkowski, did not allow these four judges to adjudicate.

Four Constitutional Tribunal judges elected in March, who were not personally sworn in by the president, filed a complaint to the ECtHR. The National Prosecutor's Office is investigating a case involving the president's failure to take the oath from four judges of the Constitutional Tribunal and preventing them from adjudicating in the Constitutional Tribunal.

Semantic dispute

The Prosecutor General, Minister of Justice, Waldemar Żurek, emphasized many times that the election of judges of the Tribunal is, according to our constitution, entrusted to the Sejm, and the obligation to take an oath "before the President of the Republic of Poland" does not necessarily mean "in the presence of". This results from the statutory level (Article 4 of the Act on the Status of Constitutional Tribunal Judges), which in recent years has been the subject of legal disputes regarding the role and duties of the head of state.

Why is the Constitutional Tribunal so important?