Chief Judge goes to work despite forced retirement TIME ONLINE

"I am here to protect the rule of law": Malgorzata Gersdorf, officially Chief Justice of Poland, arrived at work Wednesday morning at 8:15, although she had to retire since midnight. Thus, the dispute over the reform of justice pushed by the national conservative government of Poland is once again at the head. On television, we see how Gersdorf, surrounded by sympathizers and opposition politicians, entered the Supreme Court .

The justice reform criticized by the EU also violates the Constitution in the opinion of Gersdorf and therefore can not enter into force. The judge had announced that she would come to work because, according to the constitution, she should fulfill her term of office from six years until 2020. The reform adopted by the government majority in parliament provides for a reduction in the number of women in the country. retirement age at the Supreme Court from 70 to 65 years. In addition to Gersdorf, even more judges are concerned, unless President Andrzej Duda grants an extension.

Tuesday evening, about 5,000 people protested against the judicial reform and for Gersdorf and other relevant judges before the Warsaw Supreme Court. Protesters also took to the streets in Gdansk, Krakow, Lodz, Katowice and Wroclaw on Tuesday night. The opposition accuses the ruling party, Law and Justice (PiS), of undermining democratic values. The Commission of the EU has already opened an infringement procedure against Poland concerning the reform of the judicial system. The government of Poland justifies the reform by allowing judges to be dismissed, who were appointed in the communist era.

"Condemned to disastrous failure"

After a meeting of Malgorzata Gersdorf with conservative state leader Andrzej Duda, the presidential office had announced that the judge would be sent to forced retirement despite the mbadive protests. Nevertheless, Gersdorf remains implacable: "My status as President of the Supreme Court does not change anything by talking to the President," she then told parliamentarians. Finally, according to the Constitution, its mandate will continue until 2020. "I will go to work tomorrow," she said. After that, she wanted to go on vacation – during the time of her absence, she had appointed a judge to represent her. The same judge also told Duda, according to his office, as interim president of the Supreme Court until the official appointment of Gersdorf's successor.

In a lecture for law students at the University Warsaw Gersdorf had previously said that his tenure as Chief Justice would be abruptly halted, even though this was enshrined in the constitution. "We can talk about a crisis of the rule of law, a lack of respect for our constitution," added Gersdorf. She called the law on retirement a "political purge". In addition to Gersdorf, other judges have announced that they would not accept forced retirement and want to stay in their positions. The leader of the ruling PiS party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the strongman of Poland, warned in the weekly pro-government Gazeta Polska that the resistance of the judges was "condemned to a disastrous failure.

The controversial law will send Wednesday 27 of the 73 judges of the Supreme Court forced retirement. They are over 65 years old; Until now, the age limit was 70 years old. 16 of them asked President Duda to extend their term. It can reject the application without giving reasons. The presidential office pointed out that Gersdorf had not made use of this right.

Morawiecki defends reforms

The law, already pbaded by Parliament and signed by Duda, is one of the judicial reforms that have led the European Commission to act against the government in Warsaw since 2016. The Commission criticizes reforms that would restrict the independence of the judiciary and undermine the separation of powers. She had launched a new infringement procedure against Poland on Monday. It was to protect "the independence of the Supreme Court," Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki defended the reform on Wednesday. "Every country has the right to build its legal system according to its own traditions," Morawiecki told the European Parliament in Strasbourg

. In early 2016, Brussels introduced for the first time a process of revision of the rule of law in the history of the EU. The Warsaw Government has restricted the independence of the Constitutional Court. In December, a counterfeit action followed for a law extending the powers of the Minister of Justice to judicial positions.

The infringement procedure can at least theoretically lead to the abolition of voting rights at the EU level. However, the vote must fall unanimously. Hungary, also a right-wing conservative, has already announced that it will not support sanctions against Warsaw.