All that was said by far in the rulings passed by the Court of Justice of the European Union, including today's ruling, is enough to restore full order in our country - an ECJ judge Marek Safjan told TVN24. He added that he hopes that Poland will act accordingly to the rulings which indicate the need to adjust Polish law to the requirements of the EU law. "Otherwise, our membership in the European Union wouldn't make sense," he underscored.
The European Union's highest court ruled on Monday 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.
"The Polish legislation concerning the lowering of the retirement age of judges of the Supreme Court is contrary to EU law," the European Court of Justice said in its ruling.
EU's top court also stressed that "the measures at issue breach the principles of the irremovability of judges and judicial independence".
"Certain principles that cannot be violated"
Marek Safjan, a European Court of Justice judge, underscored that the ECJ clearly addressed the arguments formulated on many occasions by the Polish government, such as those regarding the competencies of the EU court or the EU Treaty to interfere in the internal organisation of the justice system of a member-state.
"Certainly, the state has a certain margin of freedom to organise its own judicial system, for instance, it can regulate at its own discretion the functioning of the Supreme Court or any other court. However, when doing so, it must always remember about the border conditions, necessary conditions that must be met by any justice system that simultaneously deals with the European law," he explained.
"There are certain principles which are so important that a state with all its freedoms cannot violate," Safjan underscored in an interview for TVN24. He added that among those principles are the ones that were strongly highlighted in the justification for Monday's ruling by the ECJ, namely "indpendence of judges, impartiality, freedom from any external pressure".
He reminded that Polish courts are a part of the EU's justice system.
"Each citizen of the EU, each Polish citizen have the right to demand protection in front of an independent and impartial court," said the ECJ judge.
"Enough to restore legal order"
"All that was said by far in the rulings passed by the Court of Justice of the European Union, including today's ruling, is enough to restore full legal order in our country," Marek Safjan told TVN24.
He added that he hopes that Poland will act accordingly to the rulings which indicate the need to adjust Polish law to the requirements of the EU law.
"Otherwise, our membership in the European Union wouldn't make sense," he underscored.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: tvn24