Poland's chief justice defies forced retirement

06/07/2018

Rule of law

Chief Justice Malgorzata Gersdorf arrived for work yesterday at Poland's Supreme Court in defiance of a new law that reduces the mandatory retirement age for judges from 70 to 65. Twenty-seven out of 73 Supreme Court judges are 65 or over.

EU Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis has criticised Poland's government for undermining judicial independence.

"[W]here the separation of powers is weakened in one country or worse, the independence of the judiciary is challenged in another, it becomes a European issue, which affects our whole community", Mr Dombrovskis said.

Bar Association President Arthur Moses SC said, via Twitter, "The Poland Government’s attempt to remove 27 justices from the Polish Supreme Court is to be condemned as an attack on the independence of the judiciary. This started in 2015 with personal attacks on the judges."