EU Gives Poland One Month Ultimatum, Threatens With “Article 7 Procedure”

The Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, escalated the diplomatic row between Brussels and Warsaw on Wednesday when he said that the EU was launching legal infringement proceedings and giving Warsaw a one month ultimatum over one of the recently passed reforms to Poland’s court system, even as earlier in the week Poland’s president Andrzej Duda vetoed two of the four controversial reforms to the judiciary.
The EU has taken issue with one particular legislation because it introduces different retirement ages for male and female judges, which the Commission claims is a breach of EU anti-discrimination law. The law would see female judges retire at 60 and males at 65. As a result, Timmermans gave Warsaw a one month ultimatum to alleviate its concerns over the rule of law before deciding on whether it would “escalate proceedings.” Timmermans also said the approval of the remaining measures still undermined the independence of the country’s judges in defiance of EU law.
Brussels also sent a set of recommendations to Poland threatening that the country’s voting rights could be suspended – under Article 7 of the EU treaty – if certain changes are implemented. Specifically, Polish authorities are warned not to take any measure to dismiss or force the retirement of Supreme Court judges.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Jul 26, 2017.