EU Commission steps up legal case against Poland over Supreme Court changes

The European Commission on Tuesday stepped up its latest legal case against Poland. The EU’s largest ex-communist state, governed by the Law and Justice (PiS) party, recently enacted laws forcing many Supreme Court judges into early retirement. The bloc, rights groups and political opposition say the move goes against the rule of law. The head of the Polish Supreme Court has been defying the new law. “The Commission maintains that the Polish law is incompatible with EU law as it undermines the principle of judicial independence, including the irremovability of judges,” the EU’s executive said on Tuesday as it took a formal infringement procedure against Warsaw to a new level. Poland now has a month to make amends or the Commission will file a lawsuit at the bloc’s top European Court of Justice, Reuters reports.