Warsaw Regional Prosecutor’s Office Assembly demands separation of the Justice Minister and Prosecutor General roles, alongside budget autonomy for the prosecution to ensure independence and non-partisanship, while urging salary increases for administrative staff.
Support for the Idea of Separating Functions
In its Friday resolution, the Warsaw Regional Prosecutor’s Office Assembly emphasized the need to separate the roles of the Minister of Justice and the Prosecutor General, as well as granting the prosecution “budget autonomy as elements ensuring its independence and non-partisanship.” It also called for maintaining existing pay regulations for judges and prosecutors and raising salaries for the prosecution’s administrative staff.
Separation of Functions Not Immediate Yet
The resolution likely responds to recent media reports. In August, “Rzeczpospolita” noted the government was reconsidering earlier plans to submit a bill to parliament proposing the Prosecutor General be elected by MPs. Instead, the Ministry of Justice aims to separate the roles of the Justice Minister and Prosecutor General within a comprehensive prosecution reform. The Commission for the Codification of Judicial and Prosecution Structures is currently drafting such legislation. Separating these roles was one of the Civic Coalition’s “100 specifics” announced before parliamentary elections.
Waldemar Żurek: Prosecutor Should Feel Independent
The roles of the Justice Minister and Prosecutor General were separated between 2010-2016 but merged again under the United Right government. “I was once a member of the National Council of the Judiciary, which, based on then-existing laws, elected the so-called independent prosecutor. I was on the selection committee years ago,” recalled Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek during a July press conference. He added, “I still support establishing such a prosecutor’s office to ensure independence and allow prosecutors to conduct investigations freely. (…) I want the separation at least because I know how much time the Justice Minister dedicates to the prosecution, and I don’t want to be painted as saying, ‘Let the District Prosecutor worry.'”
Source: Gazeta, https://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/sedzia#anchorLink, https://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Zjednoczona-Prawica#anchorLink, https://www.tokfm.pl/Tokfm/7, https://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/7
