Ladies and Gentlemen Judges of the Supreme Administrative Court and Voivodship Administrative Courts, Colleagues,

on January 3, 2024, I received the "Open Letter from the Board of the National Association of Administrative Court Judges to the President of the Supreme Administrative Court". The letter was published on the website of the National Association of Administrative Court Judges and the Association of Polish Judges "Iustitia". I would like to draw your attention to the following circumstances:

I. I accept with surprise and concern the form of communication chosen by the Board of the National Association of Administrative Court Judges. I would not refuse a meeting with the Chairwoman of the Association's Board, Ms. Aleksandra Wrzesińska-Nowacka, Judge of the Supreme Administrative Court, as well as with the other Members of the Board: Ms. Izabella Kulig-Maciszewska, retired Sr. Sr. and Gentlemen Judges of the Provincial Administrative Courts: Sr. Renata Detka (Provincial Administrative Court in Kielce), Sr. Paweł Groński (Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw), Sr. Barbara Kołodziejczak-Osetek (Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw), Sr. Jacek Niedzielski (Provincial Administrative Court in Gorzów Wielkopolski) and Sr. Maria Zawadzka (Provincial Administrative Court in Kraków). Together with Sr. Sr. Aleksandra Wrzesińska-Nowacka, we have been serving as judges together in the same building for many years.

II. The letter sets out the following expectations towards the President of the Supreme Administrative Court:

1) withdrawal of announced and unfinished competitions for vacant judicial positions in provincial administrative courts and for the positions of assessors in these courts, as well as refraining from announcing new competitions in these courts,

2) discontinuation of appointing judges appointed at the request of the National Council of the Judiciary in the composition formed after 2018 to adjudicating panels,

3) exclusion from drawing lots for court panels to consider the application referred to in art. 5a of the Act of 25 July 2002 - Law on the Organization of Administrative Courts (consolidated text Journal of Laws of 2022, item 2492) of judges referred to in point 2,

4) refraining from drawing lots for the composition of the disciplinary court of judges referred to in point 2.

The actions of each body, both judicial and public administration, must find a legal basis in applicable legal provisions. It is a pity that the letter does not indicate them. The President of the Supreme Administrative Court has no competence with respect to the above-mentioned actions in points 2-4. I note that any actions taken by the President of the Supreme Administrative Court in this respect could also violate the independence of judges. Referring to the participation of a judge appointed at the request of the National Council of the Judiciary after 2018 in considering the application submitted under Art. 5a of the Act of 25 July 2002 - Law on the Organization of Administrative Courts, it is also worth noting the possibility of effectively filing a request to exclude a judge by a party to the proceedings or the judge himself (e.g. resolutions of the Supreme Administrative Court of 5 April 2023 and of 12 April 2023 in case I FSK 2040/22). As regards point 1, with regard to the competitions already underway for the positions of assessors and judges in provincial administrative courts, their host is the National Council of the Judiciary. The applicable provisions do not provide for the "withdrawal of the announcement" resulting in the suspension or termination of the ongoing proceedings for the appointment to the office of a judge or appointment to the position of assessor. Another issue is the possibility and advisability of suspending proceedings involving candidates for judge or assessor positions by the National Council of the Judiciary itself due to the need to implement the pilot judgment of the ECtHR of 23 November 2023 in the case Wałęsa v. Poland and the call addressed to members of the National Council of the Judiciary, which was contained in the resolution of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland of 20 December 2023 on removing the effects of the constitutional crisis in the context of the systemic position and function of the National Council of the Judiciary in a democratic state ruled by law (Journal of Laws of 2023, item 1457). Being – pursuant to Article 187 sec. 1 point 1 of the Constitution – a member of the National Council of the Judiciary, I did not participate in its work due to doubts as to the correctness of the judicial composition of the Council, which were formulated in numerous rulings of the Supreme Administrative Court (e.g. judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court of 6 May 2021, II GOK 2/18), CJEU and ECHR. For these reasons, I am considering the need, after seeking the opinion of the College of the Supreme Administrative Court, to temporarily suspend new announcements of vacant assessor and judicial positions in provincial administrative courts. At the same time, it cannot be ignored that the exclusion from adjudicative work of judges appointed at the request of the National Council of the Judiciary submitted in 2018 and in subsequent years, as postulated in the letter of the Association, will involve additional adjudicative obligations of the remaining judges in order to ensure the parties the right to have their case considered without undue delay, guaranteed by Article 45 of the Constitution, Article 6 of the ECHR and Article 47 KPP. Citizens cannot suffer the negative effects of slowing down the pace of resolving their cases. The favorable trend of hearing more cases than are received by the Supreme Administrative Court, of which we are proud, can be reversed. Over the past year, the Supreme Administrative Court, with the great effort of all judges, managed to control the inflow of cases and reduce their backlog, despite a significant increase in the number of cases received by the Supreme Administrative Court. In 2023, 24,644 cases were received by the Supreme Administrative Court, which is nearly 1,200 more than in 2022, when 23,448 cases were received. The number of cassation appeals in 2023 is the highest in the history of the Supreme Administrative Court and amounts to 19,645. In 2023, 25,653 cases were resolved, compared to 21,530 cases in 2022. These numbers give citizens hope that their disputes with the administration will be resolved sooner than before. The efficiency of the proceedings in the provincial administrative courts, measured by the statistical average time of considering a case, does not exceed 5 months. Achieving such very good results in the efficiency of the proceedings required a lot of effort and your personal involvement, for which I am very grateful.