125As a preliminary point, it is important, on the one hand, to recall that, although the establishment of the disciplinary regime applicable to judges falls within the competence of the Member States, the fact remains that, when exercising that power, each Member State is required to comply with EU law. The Republic of Poland is thus required to ensure that the disciplinary regime which it has put in place in respect of national judges is appropriate for safeguarding the independence of courts which, like the ordinary courts, the administrative courts and the Sąd Najwyższy (Supreme Court), are called upon to rule on questions relating to the application or interpretation of EU law, in order to guarantee individuals the effective judicial protection required by the second subparagraph of Article 19(1) TEU (see, to that effect, judgment of 15 July 2021, Commission v Poland (Disciplinary regime for judges), C‑791/19, EU:C:2021:596, paragraph 136 and the case-law cited). In accordance with the principle of the separation of powers which characterises the operation of the rule of law, such independence must be ensured in relation to the legislature and the executive (judgment of 22 February 2022, RS (Effect of the decisions of a constitutional court), C‑430/21, EU:C:2022:99, paragraph 42 and the case-law cited).
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