Poland speeds changes to Supreme Court amid EU row

WARSAW: Poland adopted legislation on Friday aimed at speeding up the process of replacing the country’s disputed Supreme Court chief justice who has refused to step down under a retirement law the EU dubs a threat to judicial independence.The new law is part of a raft of controversial judicial reforms by the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government aimed at replacing a raft of judges all the way up to the Constitutional Tribunal and Supreme Court. The PiS insists the changes tackle corruption and overhaul a judicial system still haunted by the communist era.But the opposition, democracy watchdogs and the EU warn they undermine judicial independence, the rule of law and democracy. The new legislation passed by 230 to 24 with four abstentions speeds up the process of choosing a successor to disputed Supreme Court chief justice Malgorzata Gersdorf.It allows a replacement to be chosen when 80 judges are appointed to the Supreme Court, down from 110, a near-full roster of its 120 justices. The legislation is expected to pass easily in the Senate before being signed into law by PiS-allied President Andrzej Duda.The EU launched legal action against Poland earlier this month over controversial Supreme Court retirement rules introduced by the PiS that could end up in the European Court of Justice (ECJ), where the bloc’s top tribunal can strike them down.

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