The European Court of Justice confirmed on Monday 17 December, in an order terminating the interim measures proceedings (emergency procedure), the validity of the European Commission's arguments, which had submitted this urgent request for proceedings at the beginning of October to immediately stop the implementation of the Polish law regarding the Supreme Court lowering the retirement age for judges (see EUROPE 12102). On 19 October, the Vice-President of the Court had already approved the request for immediate suspension of Polish law in an interim order (see EUROPE 12121).
Poland has since been heard (on 16 November), this second order therefore ends the interim measures proceedings and confirms issue by issue the arguments put forward by the Commission, which was concerned in particular about a breach of the independence of the judiciary with judges (since reappointed) being forced to leave early. A final decision is still pending in this case.
The Commission referred the matter to the Court of Justice on 2 July (see EUROPE 12053) and then made an urgent request to the Court in September, after having found that the July referral had no effect on the Polish Government's actions.
The government has since announced that it will respect the request for provisional suspension and announced legislative amendments to regulate the return of these judges. However this law has not yet been signed by Polish President, Andrzej Duda. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)