Poland broke law with 2017 judicial reform, top EU court rules

Poland broke EU law when it lowered the retirement age for judges in 2017 and introduced a different retirement age for women and men in the profession, the bloc’s top court ruled on Tuesday.

The ruling is a further blow to the Polish government in a long-standing battle with the European Commission, which says Warsaw is breaking the rule of law in the country by undermining the independence of courts, Reuters said.

The ruling Euroskeptic Law and Justice party passed a law in 2017 that lowered the retirement age of judges in the ordinary courts and public prosecutors – and the age for early retirement of judges of the Supreme Court – to 60 years for women and 65 years for men, from 67 for both sexes.

The EU’s executive arm said those rules were contrary to EU law, and sued Poland in the European Court of Justice.