European Commission Refers Poland to the European Court of Justice (September 24, 2018) [1]
On September 24, 2018, the European Commission referred Poland to the Court of Justice of the European Union in regard to a recent Polish law that lowers the retirement age of Supreme Court judges from seventy to sixty-five, which could force twenty-seven out of seventy-two sitting judges into retirement. According to the press release [3], the Commission argued that the law “undermines the principle of judicial independence, including the irremovability of judges, and thereby Poland fails to fulfil its obligations under Article 19(1) of the Treaty on European Union read in connection with Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.” The move comes after the Commission launched infringement proceedings by sending a Letter of Formal Notice [4] to Poland on the matter in July of 2018 and followed up with a Reasoned Opinion [5] in August. The Commission has argued that the law “is being accelerated and is creating a risk of serious and irreparable damage to judicial independence in Poland, and therefore of the EU legal order.”