Polish Senate Speaker Says EU Court To Surely Dismiss Commission's Case Against Warsaw

Speaker of the Polish Senate Stanislaw Karczewski said on Monday that he was confident that the European Court of Justice would dismiss the European Commission's case against Poland over the latter's judicial reform.

WARSAW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th September, 2018) Speaker of the Polish Senate Stanislaw Karczewski said on Monday that he was confident that the European Court of Justice would dismiss the European Commission's case against Poland over the latter's judicial reform.

Earlier on Monday, the European Commission referred Poland to the European Court of Justice over concerns for the judicial independence of the Polish Supreme Court.

"I am sure that the complaint will be rejected," Karczewski said.

The Polish lawmaker pointed out that the Polish government had strong legal arguments that would be presented to the court.

"Poland has always respected all the verdicts [of the European Court of Justice]. It is necessary to say that Poland is at the forefront of respect and implementation of the European Court of Justice's verdicts," Karczewski added.

The commission expressed concern over the fact that new law was forcing 27 out of 72 Supreme Court judges to retire, since it lowered the retirement their age from 70 to 65.

In early July, the European Commission sent to Poland a Letter of Formal Notice regarding the legislation. Poland's response did not "alleviate the Commission's legal concerns," according to the latter's statement.

The lower house of Polish parliament passed the controversial law in December 2017. Apart from lowering the judges' retirement age, the law envisages a strengthened role for prosecutors. The European Union slammed the reform as a distortion of the courts' independence and violation of the principle of irremovability of judges, because although the law allows the judges to ask for their terms to be extended, there are no criteria defined for this decision.