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EU executive not withdrawing court case against Poland: report

PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk 28.11.2018 13:32
The European Commission will not for now withdraw a legal case against Warsaw over contested reforms to Poland’s Supreme Court, the EU Justice Commissioner has been quoted as saying by media.
Image: QuinceMedia/pixabay.com/CC0 Creative CommonsImage: QuinceMedia/pixabay.com/CC0 Creative Commons

Commissioner Věra Jourová also said that the European Union’s executive will not withdraw from its punitive Article 7 procedure against Poland at this stage, the PAP news agency reported, citing Czech media. Jourová hails from the Czech Republic.

Polish parliamentarians last week approved legislation aiming to reinstate retired Supreme Court judges and reverse a move that triggered a row between Warsaw and Brussels.

The planned change in rules has now gone to Polish President Andrzej Duda for signature.

Jourová welcomed those moves in Poland, according to PAP.

The new Polish legislation aims to repeal provisions under which judges above the age of 65 were forced into retirement earlier this year.

Interim injunction

The Court of Justice of the European Union in October issued an interim injunction ruling that the contested reforms to Poland’s Supreme Court should be suspended.

In July, the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, launched a procedure against Warsaw over the reform, arguing that it undermined “the principle of judicial independence, including the irremovability of judges.”

That move followed the European Commission last December taking the unprecedented step of triggering Article 7 of the EU Treaty against Poland, stepping up pressure on Warsaw over judicial reforms and possibly paving the way for sanctions being imposed on Poland.

Poland's governing Law and Justice party, which came to power in late 2015, has said that sweeping changes are needed to reform an inefficient and sometimes corrupt judicial system tainted by the communist past.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said after talks with the head of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, in Brussels on Sunday that the European Union’s executive has welcomed the new Polish legislation.

(pk/gs)

Source: PAP

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