EU Parliament weighs lifting Kamiński immunity

The news in Polish

1. rozważać
   dokładnie myśleć o jakiejś sprawie, żeby podjąć decyzję ↩︎
2. odebranie  (n.)
   czynność polegająca na zabraniu komuś czegoś, co miał lub posiadał ↩︎
3. immunitet  (m.)
   szczególne prawo, które chroni np. posła lub sędziego przed postępowaniem karnym ↩︎
4. prokuratura  (f.)
   urząd państwowy, który prowadzi i nadzoruje sprawy karne, oskarża w sądzie ↩︎
5. śledztwo  (n.)
   postępowanie prowadzone przez prokuraturę lub policję, aby wyjaśnić, czy popełniono przestępstwo ↩︎
6. badać
   dokładnie sprawdzać, analizować coś, aby zdobyć informacje ↩︎

Translation

Text comprehension

Question 1: What past job of Mariusz Kamiński is connected to the case about his immunity?

Question 2: Does taking away Kamiński’s immunity automatically mean he is guilty?

Vocabulary

Polish	English
rozważać	to consider
odebranie  (n.)	removal
immunitet  (m.)	immunity
prokuratura  (f.)	public prosecutor’s office
śledztwo  (n.)	investigation
badać	to examine / to investigate

Read the full story

The European Parliament has begun procedures that could lead to the removal of the parliamentary immunity of Polish MEP Mariusz Kamiński, a leading politician from the opposition party Law and Justice (PiS). The move follows a formal request from the Polish prosecutor general, Waldemar Żurek.

The case concerns Kamiński’s activities between 2007 and 2009, when he served as head of Poland’s Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA). At that time, the CBA investigated claims that former Polish president Aleksander Kwaśniewski and his wife Jolanta Kwaśniewska had bought a house in the town of Kazimierz Dolny through a third person. Polish investigators have questioned whether those actions were carried out properly and within the law.

Opening a four-day plenary session in Strasbourg, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola told MEPs that the “competent Polish authorities” had asked her to launch the procedure to lift Kamiński’s immunity. She confirmed that she had passed the request to the Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI), which is responsible for such matters.

In the European Parliament, any request to remove an MEP’s immunity is first examined by the JURI committee. The committee studies the documents and prepares a report with a recommendation. There is no fixed deadline, and this internal process often lasts several months. After that, the full Parliament votes in a public session. A simple majority of votes is enough to approve or reject the lifting of immunity.

Both Polish and EU sources emphasise that removing parliamentary immunity does not mean that the MEP is guilty. Instead, it allows national prosecutors and courts to continue an investigation or start a criminal trial. A decision about any possible conviction, or about cancelling an MEP’s mandate, is taken later by the national judicial authorities and, if necessary, by the relevant institutions of the member state—in this case, Poland.

The Kamiński case comes at a time when the European Parliament is also considering the immunities of several other Polish MEPs from different parties. A series of votes is expected on whether to lift the immunity of Daniel Obajtek and Patryk Jaki from PiS, as well as Grzegorz Braun and Tomasz Buczek from the Confederation, a nationalist-right grouping.

According to Polish media, the procedure concerning Patryk Jaki is linked to a criminal case and a private complaint submitted by well-known judge Igor Tuleya. In the case of Daniel Obajtek, former head of the state-controlled oil company Orlen, prosecutors are interested in decisions allegedly involving the blocking of distribution of the weekly magazine “NIE” at Orlen petrol stations, after an issue featuring a controversial cover with Pope John Paul II.

The Parliament has already dealt several times with the immunity of Grzegorz Braun, who represents the Crown of Poland Confederation in the European chamber. The current request would be the fourth attempt to remove his immunity. It relates to an incident in which Braun is accused of blocking an access road in the town of Jedwabne on 10 July 2025, during commemorations of the massacre of the Jewish population there in 1941. In the case of Tomasz Buczek, prosecutors accuse him of physically attacking a female participant at a demonstration.

For observers outside Poland, these developments illustrate how legal disputes inside a member state can move onto the stage of the European Parliament. The Parliament’s role is not to decide who is guilty but to decide whether an MEP should continue to enjoy special legal protection while national authorities wish to investigate alleged offences. This is part of the balance between protecting democratic representatives from political pressure and ensuring they are not above the law.

The ongoing procedures suggest that the debate about political responsibility, judicial independence and accountability in Poland will continue to play out not only in Warsaw but also in European institutions in Brussels and Strasbourg. The final decisions on Kamiński and the other Polish MEPs will depend on the outcome of the JURI committee’s reports and the subsequent votes in the full Parliament.

Info: ‘Polish Learner News’ is a service from ‘Let’s Learn Polish’, a Polish language school offering various types of online Polish courses for learners at different levels.