European Union Justice Commissioner Věra Jourová has reportedly said that the legal case against Poland over contested reforms will not be dropped, at least not now.
According to Poland’s PAP news agency, she said the Commission will not withdraw from its punitive Article 7 procedure against Poland at this stage.
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, which aims to repeal controversial provisions under which judges above the age of 65 were forced into retirement, has now gone to Polish President Andrzej Duda for signature.
As reported by Radio Poland online, the country’s ruling Law and Justice party, which came to power in late 2015, has repeatedly argued that sweeping changes are needed to reform an inefficient and sometimes corrupt judicial system tainted by the communist past.
On November 26, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said (after talks with the head of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, in Brussels) that the Commission has welcomed the new Polish legislation.
