Poland has sent its reply to the first stage of the infringement procedure launched by the European Commission, regarding the Polish law on the Supreme Court. Polish Press Agency (PAP) informed that, according to a diplomatic source, Poland rejects the Commission's opinion.
"The document is a detailed legal argumentation that consists of several dozen pages and has 90 paragraphs. It shows the whole history of the dispute between Warsaw and Brussels. In the document, Poland rejects the objections rasied by the European Commission regarding the new Supreme Court law. The legal argumentation proves that the Commission's actions are unjustified," said the source.
Spokesperson for the European Commission Natasha Bertaud confirmed on Thursday that the Poland's answer to the Letter of Formal Notice was submitted.
The Commission said in July that "the new Polish law on the Supreme Court lowers the retirement age of Supreme Court judges from 70 to 65. This measure also applies to the First President of the Supreme Court, whose 6-year mandate would be prematurely terminated. According to the law, current judges are given the possibility to declare their will to have their mandate prolonged by the President of the Republic, which can be granted for a period of three years and renewed once. There are no criteria established for the President's decision and there is no possibility for a judicial review of this decision".
"The Commission is of the opinion that these measures undermine the principle of judicial independence, including the irremovability of judges, and thereby Poland fails to fulfil its obligations under Article 19(1) of the Treaty on European Union read in connection with Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union," reads the European Commission's press release from July.
The European Commission can and often does launch an infringement procedure, if a Member State violates the European law, the EU law is not implemented or when a complaint against law violation is filed.
The infringement procedure begins with a request for information (a "Letter of Formal Notice") to the Member State concerned, which must be answered within a specified period, usually two months.
If the Commission is not satisfied with the information and concludes that the Member State in question is failing to fulfil its obligations under EU law, the Commission may then send a formal request to comply with EU law (a "Reasoned Opinion"), calling on the Member State to inform the Commission of the measures taken to comply within a specified period, usually two months.
If a Member State fails to ensure compliance with EU law, the Commission may then decide to refer the Member State to the Court of Justice. However, in around 95% of infringement cases, Member States comply with their obligations under EU law before they are referred to the Court.
If the Court rules against a Member State, the Member State must then take the necessary measures to comply with the judgment.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International, PAP, European Commission
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