The European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg has again dealt with Poland's controversial judicial reform. The ECJ upheld a complaint by the EU Commission and declared the different age restrictions for Polish judges unlawful.
The right-wing conservative ruling party PiS has rebuilt the country's judiciary since 2015 with a number of laws and, according to critics, made it dependent on itself. Two years ago, the government lowered the retirement age for women judges and prosecutors to 60 and for men to 65. It had been located at both sexes at 67 years ago. In ordinary courts, the Minister of Justice has since been able to decide whether the term of office will be extended beyond the fixed retirement age.
Independence of the judges curtailed
The Luxembourg judges have now agreed with the EU Commission. The different retirement ages of men and women are direct discrimination based on sex. In addition, the powers of the Minister of Justice curtailed the independence of the judges.
Last year, the Polish government reacted to the complaint of the European Commission and amended the law in question. Thus she limited the powers of the Minister of Justice and raised the retirement age of women to 65 years. The judgment of Tuesday, however, refers to the previous regulations.
The EU Commission now has to examine whether Poland has already complied with the ruling with the amendments. If this is not the case from the point of view of the Brussels authority, it could sue again before the ECJ. Then Warsaw is threatened with sensitive financial sanctions.