History /
History of two Neighbors: Poland - Germany Interrelations [283]
no business meddling in a member state's judiciary
Wrong. The EU Comission is responsible for controlling if the member states are adhering to the treaties. Poland signed up to respecting the rule of law, thus Bruessels is fully authorized to take action, which the European Court of Justice has also confirmed.
analogous to German judicial system.
I think I have pointed out several times that this is not true. If not then in short: If PiS agreed to increase the majority needed to confirm judges to 2/3 of the parliament, and having the Senate approve every 2nd judge, then this would be true. If PiS still insists on enabling themselves to appoint all judges with a slim parliament majority and no input from the opposition, then no, it is far from the German system and still very dangerous for Poland's rule of law.
It's a problem but not a huge one.
I disagree. Many such steps taken, if unopposed, can hollow out any democratic system. It is important to act now before more damage is done. Orban did what PiS probably dreamed about, the EU did too little too late and now we have a de facto autocrat who is getting bribes by Russia and China. That PiS was chiefly responsible for letting Orban get away with this is another matter.
there is no reason for systems to be identical or even similar
They don't need to be identical, but they ought to be similar in the sense that they uphold basic requirements for a democracy like the rule of law.
Allowing a government to select their supreme court judges without any input from other parties is a terrible idea and hardly justfiable except for the need of the government to gain more power.
