Watchdog

The European Union has launched legal action against Poland’s government over a controversial new law that could undermine the independence of the country’s courts and give the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) too much influence over them.

The commission said in a July 29 statement that it has sent a letter of formal notice to Warsaw following the publication of the law in Poland.

The EU took issue with the law because it introduced different retirement ages for female and male judges, which is a breach of EU antidiscrimination laws.

“The new rules allow the minister of justice to exert influence on individual ordinary judges through, in particular, the vague criteria for the prolongation of their mandates, thereby undermining the principle of irrevocability of judges," the European Commission said in its statement.

The statement said Poland’s right-wing government had one month to respond to the commission's concerns.

Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans sent a letter on July 28 to Poland's foreign minister reiterating an invitation to him and the justice minister to meet in Brussels to relaunch dialogue.

Timmermans said on July 26 that the commission could trigger Article 7, a legal process of suspending Poland's EU voting rights, if Warsaw went ahead with plans to undermine the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law.

Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, and dpa

Poland's powerful ruling party leader on July 27 vowed to keep pushing for "radical" reform of the court system despite opposition from the European Union and presidential vetoes, and said his next goal will be to "decentralize" the media.

Law and Justice party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski told Polish television networks he expects "very strong resistance" to his conservative nationalist party's plans to reduce concentration in the media.

He didn't give details, but party leaders have previously announced plans to limit foreign ownership of private media companies in Poland.

Many Polish newspapers have German or Swiss owners, while an American company owns the country's largest private television broadcaster, TVN.

Kaczynski vowed to quickly finish overhauling the court system despite President Andrzej Duda's rejection this week of two bills giving the ruling party more power over the Supreme Court and other aspects of the judicial system.

Kaczynski called the vetoes "a very serious mistake...The reform of the judiciary must be radical, because partial reform won't change anything."

The EU took legal action against Poland over the court reforms on July 26, saying they undermine the independence of judges and break EU rules.

The planned judiciary changes sparked large nationwide protests for more than a week.

Based on reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters