The European Court of Justice (ECJ) again asked Poland to immediately suspend the forced retirement of judges. The EU Supreme Court confirmed on Monday in Luxembourg an urgent decision by his vice-president in mid-October.
In Poland, a new law has been in force since April. This reduced the retirement age of the judges to 65 years. Critics accuse the national-conservative government in Warsaw of wanting to push out critics critical of the government. The European Commission had filed a lawsuit against Poland over the controversial judicial reform.
Only after the first decision had the ECJ heard the Polish government in mid-November. But now he came again to the conclusion that the interim measures requested by the EU Commission are justified.
Meanwhile, Poland’s government has responded to the original order from Luxembourg and overturned the controversial forced retirement. The lawyers concerned had already returned to work after the ECJ ruling on 19 October.
The project of the Polish government is about a controversial law with which Poland’s ruling party Law and Justice (PiS) lowered the retirement age of supreme magistrates from 70 to 65 years. This should send 20 lawyers to retirement. Critics complained that the PiS get rid of such unpopular judges. The EU Commission saw the independence of the Polish judiciary threatened.
