Poland's Judicial Reforms Violate EU Law, Top Court Says

(Bloomberg) -- Poland’s sweeping judicial overhaul, which includes lowering the retirement age of Supreme Court judges, violates European Union rules, the bloc’s top court said in a stinging rebuke of measures described by government critics as a political “purge.”

The Polish reform “is not justified by a legitimate objective” and “undermines the principle of the irremovability of judges, which is essential to their independence,” the EU Court of Justice said in a binding ruling on Monday.

The European Commission challenged a controversial Polish law that lowers the retirement age for justices, which could force out nearly two-fifths of the top court seen by opponents an attack on the rule of law. Poland has already been forced to suspend the measures following an order from the EU court in December.

The decision has a largely symbolic significance, as Poland’s government has already backtracked on the contested legislation ahead of the announcement. Nevertheless, it shows that the EU has jurisdiction over how member nations revamp their justice systems, in the face of claims from Polish officials who have called on Brussels to stay out of what it called domestic politics.

The ruling isn’t a “defeat” for the government, said ruling party Senator Aleksander Bobko. “We have already modified these rules and we proved that we can correct our course while being determined” to overhaul the courts, he told reporters in Warsaw.

The Brussels-based commission called the decision a “a welcome clarification” of the principles concerning the independence of judges. It said it stands ready to support the government in applying the judgment and “to continue discussions on the resolution of all other outstanding issues related to the rule of law in Poland.”

A string of cases have reached the EU’s top courts since Poland started a sweeping judicial overhaul four years ago. An EU court adviser said last week that Poland’s decision to lower the retirement age of ordinary judges and also distinguish between the retirement ages for men and women violated the law.

The governing Law & Justice party argues that it needs to cleanse the judicial system of judges who were active during the pre-1989 Communist era and create a system that it says will deliver more justice for ordinary citizens. The opposition as well as human-rights groups say it’s a power grab that poses a serious risk to the country’s democratic order.

“This ruling is important for the entire EU as it shows precedent in these types of cases,” Marek Borowski, a senator from the pro-EU opposition, told private broadcaster TVN24. “The breach of Poland’s Constitution and of EU laws were so clear that the government didn’t even wait for the tribunal’s ruling to back out.”

--With assistance from Wojciech Moskwa.

To contact the reporters on this story: Stephanie Bodoni in Brussels at sbodoni@bloomberg.net;Marek Strzelecki in Warsaw at mstrzelecki1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, ;Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Peter Chapman, Andrew Langley

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