A delegation of three members of the Council of Europe's Venice Commission have met with the head of Polish Supreme Court on Monday 12 to check on the health of the country's rule of law. Meetings with members of Polish government and institutions are on the agenda on Tuesday 13. For the second time this year, experts have been sent to Warsaw after the governing Law and Justice party rejected the March body's previous advice to lay off the work of the Constitutional Tribunal. The monition was simply not taken into consideration due to its non-binding nature. As stated by the Commission, the main concern of the mission was the Act on the Constitutional Tribunal adopted by the Polish Parliament earlier on July 22, although it also represented the opportunity of start building constructive talks with representatives of the Ministry of Justice, the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, and of the Parliament as well.

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The Polish government is far from being collaborative with the international experts as no importance has been given to the visit. The Polish side clearly expresses mistrust and annoyance at Venice Commission's work and a common working ground seems not to be around the corner. It has been confirmed by the spokesman for the Polish Supreme Court Dariusz Świecki, who declared that several specific questions about the "atmosphere surrounding the judiciary in Poland" have been asked during the visit. Six Constitutional Court judges appointed by the ruling Law and Justice party in December 2015 and April 2016 refused to meet with the Commission.

A Commission's report on the visit and on the status of Poland's rule of law after recent developments is scheduled to be published in October. Meanwhile, the European Parliament is going to open a second plenary debate on the weakening of democracy in Poland on September 13, which could lead to vote a second resolution on the issue after a first one was adopted in April 2016. The focus of the first resolution, which raised criticism amid Polish authorities, aimed to highlight the paralysis of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal after the introduction of a series of measures to enhance government's control over the other state powers. The new resolution will be probably a call to sped-up European Commission's investigation on Polish government's control of national media, as well as counter-terrorism and civil service laws recently passed by the Polish Parliament.

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