Independence and disciplinary responsibility of judges

In accordance with equally settled case-law, Article  267 TFEU gives national courts the widest discretion in referring matters to the Court if they consider that a case pending before them raises questions involving the interpretation of provisions of EU law, or consideration of their validity, which are necessary for the resolution of the case before them. Provisions of national law which expose national judges to disciplinary proceedings as a result of the fact that they submitted a reference to the Court for a preliminary ruling cannot therefore be permitted. Therefore the requests for a preliminary ruling made by Regional Court, Łódź, Poland and by the Regional Court, Warsaw, Poland, by decisions of March 26th, 2020, were dismissed. The author explains the reasons why the EU Tribunal issued such a judgment.