• Vetting Law before Constitutional Tribunal
  • 11.05.2007
Heated debate has erupted within the Constitutional Tribunal over whether the so-called Lustration Law conforms to the Polish Constitution.

The vetting law, which came into force earlier this year, was appealed against by the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection and the opposition Democratic Left Alliance (SLD).

The Tribunal has rejected a motion by MP Arkadiusz Mularczyk (PiS), who wanted to adjourn the case until a later time and exclude four of the judges, because – according to him – they were not politically objective.

According to the opposition, Mularczyk’s motion was simply an obstruction of the trial and an attempt to postpone the verdict.

Those against the Vetting Act point out that time plays a crucial role in this debate, as May 15 is the expiry date when vetting declarations must be delivered to the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN).

If the Tribunal recognises the Act as violating the Constitution before this date, the people who did not send their declarations yet, will not have to do so. According to IPN’s estimations, as of May 7 the Institute received only around 10 percent of all vetting declarations.

Commenting on the decision of the Constitutional Tribunal, Poland’s President Lech Kaczyński said that, “The unusual haste of the Tribunal in this case constitutes a symptomatic.”

The President announced that if the Constitutional Tribunal decides that the present vetting law is violating the country’s Constitution, then a follow up law will open IPN’s communist era archives widely.

The new vetting regulations came into force on March 15. The number of people who were obliged to submit declarations of past relations with the secret services in communist times was increased from 27,000 to several hundred thousand.

Apart from public officials, who were subject to vetting before,, the new law concerns scientists, journalists, media owners, local authorities’ representatives, as well as chairmen of state-owned and stock-exchange companies, school directors and chairmen of sports associations.(jm)