New Minister of Justice Waldemar Żurek announced that he will not be tied to his ministerial position. “If my mission at the Ministry of Justice proves impossible to fulfill, I will submit a motion to resign. Being a minister is not the end of the world,” he said.
As a result of the government reshuffle, Adam Bodnar was dismissed as Minister of Justice. Last week, President Andrzej Duda appointed Waldemar Żurek from the District Court in Kraków to the position of Minister of Justice. Prime Minister Donald Tusk told TVN24 that Żurek's appointment as Minister of Justice was motivated by the presidential election results. “I need ministers today who will take these kinds of actions very decisively, firmly, without hesitation, and that requires certain predispositions. Minister Żurek is the type of person who fits this profile for me,” the Prime Minister explained.
When asked at Thursday's press conference whether he had already made any personnel changes at the ministry, Żurek stated that he doesn't usually make such changes from day one of managing the team. He emphasized that he knows the people working at the Ministry of Justice in key positions very well.
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We've known each other for many years. Many of them fought for the rule of law, and today they have a very difficult role,” he noted.
Joining the Minister of Justice at the press conference were Tomasz Gajewski, Director of the Department of Funds and Free Legal Aid; Michał Hara, Director of the Department of Criminal Law; Marta Kożuchowska-Warywoda, Director of the Department of Personnel and Court Organization; Jarosław Konopka, Deputy Director; and Dariusz Mazur, Deputy Minister of Justice. “I know that these people standing here next to me have been working very hard these past few days,” the Minister of Justice emphasized.
Żurek announced that he would be monitoring the work of those employed at the ministry. He indicated that he wanted to have the right to make any personnel changes. “I wouldn't want any of you to get attached to your position, because I don't,” he declared.
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Żurek is demolishing the “concrete-bound system.” He has filed a motion to dismiss 44 judges (and is suspending the wife of the Constitutional Tribunal president).
– I told the Prime Minister that if my mission is impossible to accomplish, I will submit a motion to resign or only accept the Prime Minister's suggestions, because the world does not end with being a minister and I am aware of how much risk I took – said Żurek.
The Minister of Internal Affairs emphasized that he has his own vision for the ministry's operations and has candidates for key positions. However, he cautioned that in the event of any personnel changes, “he wouldn't want the parting to be in the following terms: 'We don't get along.'” “If I see any skills that could be utilized here, or if I notice a lack of skills, I will talk to them and try to convince them to change personnel decisions,” he announced.
– At the moment, these people are there and none of them has been recalled from the delegation – he added.
Żurek: After being appointed head of the Ministry of Justice, I withdrew my civil claims against the State Treasury
Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek, the head of the Ministry of Justice, announced on Thursday that immediately after his appointment as minister, he withdrew his civil lawsuits “against the State Treasury and the Minister of Justice.” I found this situation awkward and my personal rights are currently being put aside, he added.
“I can say that my attorneys have worked very hard during these years of harassment and persecution, there was a lot of it. These lawsuits were very extensive, the documentation was enormous, so I can only thank them for their work,” Żurek said at Thursday's press conference.
He noted that he found the situation awkward. “And my personal rights, to which I am entitled like every citizen, are currently being put aside,” added the Minister of Justice.
Minister of Justice: Restoring the rule of law is a priority
On Thursday, during a press conference, the Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek said that his priority in work would be “restoring the rule of law,” meaning “we are not talking about what should be, but about how we can actually act to restore the rule of law.”
He added that he himself “has no doubt that we have not yet restored the rule of law in Poland.”
The Minister of Justice also announced that the ministry is currently preparing short- and long-term plans to reform the Polish justice system. “We are doing this for the citizens. The freedoms granted to citizens by the constitution are meaningless when the institutions meant to protect citizens are ineffective, when the courts are not functioning properly, when the prosecutor's office is not functioning properly, when the offices responsible for this are not functioning,” Żurek said.
He added that the safety of citizens is the most important thing today, so those state institutions that protect the rule of law must function efficiently and “everything should be done to speed it up.”
“Why do some politicians whose exploits we see laugh in their faces? What is Kowalski, whom we prosecute for various crimes, supposed to think when he sees someone on the front pages of newspapers walking around with impunity? This must change,” Żurek emphasized.
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