Poland dismissed European Commission's concerns over Supreme Court as baseless

According to a source from EU, in its response to the European Commission, Polish government argues that all of the concerns raised over the Supreme Court law are baseless.

Later on the day, Polish Foreign Ministry issued a statement confirming this information.

"Poland has addressed in a comprehensive way the concerns raised by the European Commission, regarding the compatibility of the Supreme Court law with the EU law, proving those concerns baseless," wrote the ministry.

According to the statement, "organisation of the judicial system is an exclusive competence of EU member-states; establishing of the retirement age of Supreme Court judges cannot be treated as a violation of EU laws the EC calls upon".

On 14 August, the EC took a next step in the EU law infringement procedure against Poland in regard to the new Supreme Court law. The Commission informed at the time that it remains in its standpoint that the law is not in accordance with the EU law, as it violates the judicial independence rule, including the irremovability of judges. Poland was given one month to reply.

"On the coming Wednesday, the European Commission in Brussels will discuss the issues of the rule of law in Poland and infringement procedure regarding the new Supreme Court law. We we'll have to see what will be Poland's answer. I'm not optimistic but miracles happen," a high-ranking EU official has told PAP.

He added that the EC treats the EU law infringement procedure, as well as the Supreme Court's requests for preliminary ruling sent to the CJEU, as separate issues.

"We're not conditioning the EC's decisions on CJEU's preliminary rulings. We're not planning to wait for CJEU's response. We're focused on the infringement procedure regadirg the Supreme Court law," the official.

Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International, PAP