https://www.ft.com/content/25f120ea-d398-11e8-a9f2-7574db66bcd5

European Court of Justice rules against Warsaw because of fears over judicial independence

Poland's Supreme Court in Warsaw: a third of its justices have been forced to retire early © EPA

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James Shotter in Warsaw yesterday

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The EU’s top court has ordered Poland to suspend an overhaul of its Supreme Court, escalating a bitter feud between the bloc’s institutions and Warsaw over the rule of law.

Since taking office three years ago, Poland’s Law and Justice party has introduced sweeping political powers over the judiciary, including a law that forced around a third of Supreme Court judges to retire early.

Law and Justice argues that the reforms are a long overdue overhaul of a system that has not been adequately reformed since the collapse of communism. But officials in Brussels see the changes as a politically motivated assault on judicial independence, and the European Commission asked the European Court of Justice last month to freeze the changes until it could rule whether they comply with EU law.

On Friday, the ECJ granted the request, ordering Poland to suspend provisions that forced around two dozen Supreme Court judges into early retirement and to reinstate those who had already left the tribunal.

Its decision comes just two days before Poland holds hotly contested local elections.

Poland’s justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, said that Warsaw would abide by EU law, but that it had not yet formally received the documents from the ECJ.

A group of the most eminent lawyers, the most important court in Europe, has confirmed what we have said from the beginning, which is that what is happening in the Supreme Court is inconsistent with European standards

Michal Laskowski

A Polish official told the FT that the country was likely to appeal against the decision, which appeared to have been taken without considering Polish arguments submitted on Thursday night.

But Michal Laskowski, spokesman for Poland’s Supreme Court, welcomed the ECJ move. “A group of the most eminent lawyers, the most important court in Europe, has confirmed what we have said from the beginning, which is that what is happening in the Supreme Court is inconsistent with European standards,” he said.

The ECJ decision caps a two-year battle between EU institutions and Warsaw that, together with a confrontation with Hungary, has stoked fears among the bloc’s officials that the governments of some eastern member states are drifting away from its democratic values. The dispute has also underscored the difficulties the EU faces in enforcing its norms.

“Law and Justice has destroyed the position of Poland in Europe, but it will not destroy the European values shared by Poles,” Grzegorz Schetyna, head of the main opposition party, Civic Platform, tweeted. “Those breaking the constitution will be held to account.”

The EU took the unprecedented step last year of launching a probe into whether Poland still complies with its fundamental principles. After a brief detente this year, during which time hopes of a compromise rose, Warsaw has pushed on with its reforms and is in the process of appointing new supreme court judges.

Mr Ziobro asked the country’s constitutional court this week to rule on whether European law supersedes Poland’s national laws. Opposition politicians claimed he was paving the way for Poland to leave the EU, but the justice minister has dismissed such suggestions as “huge manipulation”.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4111016&forum_id=2#37061370)