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Following protests by thousands of Poles and threats from the European Union, Polish President Andrzej Duda unexpectedly vetoed two laws that would have dealt a serious blow to Polands increasingly-fragile democracy.

On Monday, Duda announced he would veto two of the three controversial bills passed by the Polish parliament last week that would have significantly reduced the judiciarys independence and essentially made the Supreme Court irrelevant.

"As president I don't feel this law would strengthen a sense of justice," Duda said in a statement on national TV, according to the BBC. "These laws must be amended."

Criticized as attacks on Polands democratic system of checks and balances, the bills called for the immediate dismissal of the high courts current judges, except those who had been chosen by Duda. It also would have given the ruling party the power to control who sits on the National Judiciary Council, which nominates Supreme Court judges.

The one bill that Duda did not veto gives the justice minister the right to select and dismiss judges in lower courts, according to the BBC.

Dudas decision came as a bit of a surprise given his leadership of the party that submitted the bills in the first place the right-wing, EU-skeptic, and nationalist Law and Justice Party (PiS). Since gaining control of the upper and lower parliamentary houses following the 2015 election, the party has worked to dismantle Polands checks and balances.

The presidents veto has at least temporarily put the brakes on the Law and Justice Partys efforts.

The two laws will now be sent back to the parliament to be rewritten. Even though the parliament has the power to override the presidents vetoes, it requires the agreement of 60 percent of lawmakers. The ruling Law and Justice Party only has a thin majority in parliament, and its unlikely that it could get enough support.

The presidents veto came just three weeks after President Donald Trump visited Warsaw, hailed the countrys democratic values, and praised it as a defender of the West. Critics questioned the wisdom of Trumps visit given the Polish governments increasingly anti-democratic practices, which include clamping down on state media and moving to restrict the right to democratic assembly.

It also comes as thousands of demonstrators protested against the governments attempt to control the Supreme Court and undermine the countrys democracy. After the bills were passed in the parliament early Saturday morning, there were mass protests in Warsaw, Polands capital, and more than 100 cities across the country, according to CNN.

The European Union, which Poland joined in 2004, also joined the opposition. It warned that the Polish government could be sanctioned and have its voting rights suspended if it passed the Supreme Court law.

Frans Timmermans, the European Commissions first vice president, said last week that the EU was very close to triggering Article 7, a never-before-used rule that allows the EU to suspend a member countrys voting rights. It was established to ensure that all EU countries respect the common values of the EU, according to Politico.

The US State Department also criticized the bills.

We urge all sides to ensure that any judicial reform does not violate Polands constitution or international legal obligations and respects the principles of judicial independence and separation of powers, the State Department said in a statement on Friday.

Protestors have celebrated the veto as a success, but they are now pushing for the president to also veto the third reform giving the justice minister control over the lower courts.

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Poland's president may have just saved its democracy for now - Vox