Poland must end forced retirement of judges | TIME ONLINE

Luxembourg / Warsaw (dpa) – Poland must put an immediate end to the controversy over the forced departure of judges. A corresponding interim arrangement has published the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

The decision is even retroactive. This means that the judges already badigned must be allowed to continue their work at least until the final decision of the Court of Justice. Even the renominations should not take place anymore.

Rosario Silva de Lapuerta, Vice-President of the Court of Justice, justified her decision by saying that the new Polish regulations could theoretically "irreversibly undermine the fundamental right of access to an independent court". Therefore, they should be suspended until the judgment of the case.

The EU Commission in Brussels had asked for this interim order earlier this month. The authority responsible for prosecuting violations of EU law believes that forced retirement is contrary to the principle of the independence of justice. It also undermines the principle of the irremovability of judges, according to Brussels.

For the Polish government, the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Communities is considered a serious recession. She has been arguing for months that her controversial judicial reforms do not violate the law of the Union.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced a detailed badysis of the court's decision. The majority of Poles support the reorganization of the judicial system, he defended the laws of the ruling party, the national-conservative PiS party. "The judgments of the Polish courts are often considered unjust," he said.

Even the Polish Attorney General and Attorney General Zbigniew Ziobro wanted to express himself after an badysis of the judgment of the ECJ. "At the moment, all I can say is that we are in the European Union and that Poland intends to comply with the EU rules."

In this case, it is a law of the Supreme Court. With him, the retirement age of judges is reduced from 70 to 65 years. Since the beginning of July, politicians have used more than 20 retired judges. Among them is the first President of the Court, Malgorzata Gersdorf.

Gersdorf said in court: "I'm glad someone has taken into account our rights." However, it was not satisfactory that the Polish government did not do this and it was only necessary for the ECJ to bring a lawsuit.

If Poland does not obey the order, the European Commission is likely to request a penalty payment to the country. They could represent up to six figures a day.

Regardless of the proceedings before the ECJ, there is currently a European criminal case against Poland. However, this had not progressed at the moment, as the states of Central and Eastern Europe considered it critically. Political criminal proceedings could even lead to the final stage, in accordance with Article 7 of the EU Treaty, with the withdrawal of the EU's voting rights.