Poland’s president has signed into law one of three contested bills that organises the judiciary in a way that critics say limits their independence. President Andrzej Duda announced on Monday after days of protests that he would veto two of the bills. On Tuesday, his office said he had signed the third bill, despite demonstrations late on Monday in several cities urging him to also block that one. The law allows the justice minister, who is also the prosecutor general, to name the heads of all lower courts.

Critics say it is unconstitutional, but welcomed the president’s rejection of the other bills. One of them would have allowed the justice minister to immediately fire all supreme court justices and choose their replacements. Duda said the law on the supreme court gave excessive powers to the prosecutor general. Commentators were shocked at the move, interpreting it as a major setback for the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS), which has made a big issue out of controlling Poland’s independent institutions, particularly the judiciary, since it came into power in 2015, and hailing it as a victory for demonstrators.(theguardian)…[+]