On April 3 of this year the Polish Conservative Nationalist government passed a law that declared reducing the retirement date of Supreme Court judges. This Friday, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ordered Poland to provisionally suspend its controversial reform.
The law "undermines the principle of judicial independence," according to Brussels. This reform reduces the age of retirement of magistrates from 70 years to 65, a change that would put 27 of the 72 judges at risk of being forced to retire early, and would also affect the president of this court.
It also establishes that judges who wish to continue in office should express their will to do so to the president, Andrzej Duda, linked to the governing Law and Justice party, who could renew their mandate for three more years.
The European Commission (EC) considers that this legislation jeopardizes the independence of the Polish judiciary and the separation of powers guaranteed by Community treaties, thereby making it "incompatible" with European law.
"Poland must immediately suspend the application of national provisions relating to the reduction of the age of retirement of judges" of the Supreme Court, the CJEU said in a statement.
In its referral, Brussels requested the precautionary suspension of the measures, something that can only be decreed by the judge in the event that the concession is justified and that it is "urgent", that is, that it has the purpose of "avoiding serious prejudice". irreparable to the interests "of the EU.
The European Court considers the request justified and the requirement of urgency is valid, since - it indicates - the law has already begun to be applied and has retired in advance to "a significant number of judges of the Supreme Court".
Along with the parallel increase in the total number of judges of this court, "this supposes a deep and immediate recomposition of the Supreme Court", and, in the case that the CJEU ends up estimating the recourse of the Commission, all the decisions of the Supreme Court " they will have adopted without the guarantees inherent to the fundamental right (...) to an independent judge ".
The partial and precautionary suspension of the reform is a judicial setback at European level following warnings from Brussels, which has already initiated a legal process against Warsaw for its controversial reforms of the judiciary, a measure that could lead to the withdrawal to Poland of its right to vote in the Council of the Union.
At the end of August, the Polish Deputy Prime Minister, Jaroslaw Gowin, assured that his Government "probably will not have any other option" than to "ignore" the ruling of the CJEU if it decided to suspend the law that advances the retirement age of the most senior judges of the Court. Supreme.