EU Commission works on another complaint to ECJ against Poland - says EU source

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"Indeed, such project exists, and was proposed by Frans Timmermans. On Tuesday, the issue is to be discussed by the heads of commissioners' offices, and on Wednesday - by the commissioners at a weekly meeting. Timmermans has initiated the idea for it to be accepted by commissioners by October 9. It's not yet definitely sure that the complaint will actually be filed," said an EU diplomat.

According to Polish diplomatic sources, Timmermans wants the complaint to be processed under expedited procedure.

Polish diplomats, however, argue that there's no substantive justification to proceed the complaint in such mode.

The European Union's highest court ruled on June 24 that Poland's lowering of the retirement age for its supreme court judges was against EU law, in a blow to the Polish eurosceptic government.

Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party pushed through the change last year under judicial reforms the European Commission has said threatened the rule of law by increasing government control over the courts.

The PiS has originally argued that the changes were needed to improve the efficiency of the courts and rid the country of residues of the Communist era in the judiciary.

As an interim measure, the ECJ last December ordered Poland to suspend the law lowering the age of retirement, and in response the PiS amended the law to remove the obligation to retire judges already in office last year.

But Polish President Andrzej Duda, the author of the law on the early retirement, insisted that there was nothing wrong with it and that the European Commission had exceeded its mandate.

The Commission therefore refused to withdraw the case from the ECJ.

Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP, Reuters