The Senate Petition Committee is set to review a proposal on June 23 to enshrine the independence of the Bar Association directly into the Polish Constitution to ensure its permanent protection.<\/p>\n
The Senate Petition Committee will discuss a proposal to amend Article 17 of the Polish Constitution to include a new subsection regarding the Bar Association. The petitioner argues that the status of the Bar should not depend solely on the decisions of a simple parliamentary majority.<\/p>\n
The proposed amendment aims to establish that the Bar, organized as a professional self-governing body, is tasked with providing legal assistance, protecting civil rights and freedoms, and contributing to the formation and application of law.<\/p>\n
The petition, submitted in November 2025, seeks to prevent potential state interference, liquidation, or subordination of the Bar to public administration. Concerns about the autonomy of the legal profession have persisted for years, particularly regarding debates over permitting lawyers to work under employment contracts.<\/p>\n
Legal professionals remain wary of past attempts to challenge mandatory membership in professional self-governments, such as the 2022 motion filed by a group of MPs to the Constitutional Tribunal, which was eventually dismissed.<\/p>\n
Article 17 of the Constitution currently allows for the creation of professional self-governments for public trust professions, but does not explicitly name the Bar. The petitioner highlights international precedents, such as the Croatian Constitution, which explicitly defines the legal profession as an independent service.<\/p>\n
European institutions, including the Council of Europe, consistently emphasize that an independent legal profession is a fundamental pillar of the rule of law, essential for protecting citizens against abuses of public power.<\/p>\n
Even if the Senate committee issues a positive opinion, amending the Constitution requires a qualified majority in the Sejm and an absolute majority in the Senate. This initiative underscores the ongoing debate regarding the role of independent legal self-governments in the Polish legal system.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Senate Petition Committee is set to review a proposal on June 23 to enshrine the independence of the Bar Association directly into the Polish Constitution to ensure its permanent protection. Constitutional Status for the Bar The Senate Petition Committee will discuss a proposal to amend Article 17 of the Polish Constitution to include a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-and-law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3513\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}