The European Commission takes note of Poland's Supreme Court's (SN) request for a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), European Commission spokesperson Natasha Bertaud has said.
The EC spokesperson was asked at a press conference about the SN's Thursday announcement on filing five questions for preliminary ruling by the CJEU and its simultaneous decision to suspend the application of three provisions in a recent SN law that concern the new retirement age for SN judges.
"We're following the developments. We take note of the request for a preliminary ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union. The Commission has already made its position on the Supreme Court law which lowered the retirement age from 70 to 65 clear and for which we have an ongoing infringement procedure. The matter is now in the hands of the Court of Justice of the European Union, whose independence we respect," Natasha Bertaud said.
Alongside the five questions sent to the CJEU, the Polish court suspended the application of three provisions of the Supreme Court law that define the retirement principles for SN judges, Krzysztof Michałowski of the court's press service told PAP on Thursday.
The questions are related to "the principle of court independence and impartiality as the principles of EU law and the EU's prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of age," Michałowski added.
According to the President's Office, the Supreme Court's decision to suspend some provisions of the SN law was made without proper legal basis and bears no consequences for the president or any other body.
According to Poland's Constitutional Tribunal president, Julia Przyłębska, the SN has no authority to suspend any laws.
"Poland's legal system, and notably the constitution, does not give the Supreme Court or any other court in Poland the authority to 'suspend the application of regulations', regardless of the legislation that a given regulation comes from, including an act of law," Julia Przyłębska told PAP.
The questions to the CJEU result from a legal query that the SN is currently hearing and its doubts as to whether two SN judges that are over 65 can deal with the case.
In accordance with the SN law that entered into force in early April, SN judges that were over 65 went into retirement on July 3, unless they had filed a relevant statement coupled with a doctor's certificate and the Polish president approved their request for continued service.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International, PAP
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: tvn24