People hold candles and Polish national flags as they take part in a demonstration in front of the Polish Supreme Court on July 23, 2017 in Warsaw | Janek Skarzynski/AFP via Getty Images Poland retreats on controversial laws The moves make few real changes, but Warsaw hopes the ‘gesture’ will calm foreign critics.

Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party on Thursday presented a series of amendments to its highly contested judiciary bills and backtracked on a Holocaust law that soured relations with Israel and the United States.

The right-wing Polish government has come under enormous pressure from the European Commission and many EU countries for its controversial changes to the legal system, which critics say has put judges under the control of the ruling party.

The amendments to controversial court reforms were filed Thursday in the lower house of the Polish parliament by PiS lawmaker Marek Ast.

One bill would publish past verdicts issued by the Constitutional Tribunal, the country's highest court, which the government refused to publish in 2016 when it was trying to take control of the tribunal. That action was widely criticized, and forms the basis for ongoing EU complaints that Poland is violating the rule of law.

However, even Ast admitted that publishing the verdicts at this point will make only a cosmetic difference.

Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro has already removed many judges and the government recently took control of the KRS.

"We took this decision to meet the expectations of the European Commission," Ast told reporters, clarifying that the verdicts apply to laws no longer in force. "We hope that this will end the conflict ... it is a gesture from our side."

Another bill concerns the ability of Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro to remove court presidents and vice presidents.

At the moment, he has free rein to fire judges without cause, but the amendment would introduce a two-stage consultation procedure, under which Ziobro would have to seek agreement from bodies like the National Judiciary Council (KRS), which oversees the court system.

However, Ziobro has already removed many judges and the government recently took control of the KRS.

The bill also backtracks on an earlier law that set different retirement ages for male and female judges — 65 for men and 60 for women. The Commission used that issue to criticize changes to the Polish legal system. The amendment proposes 65 as a retirement age for both men and women, but women will still keep the right to retire earlier.

"The expectations of women from our party converge with the expectations of the European Commission, which said the bill was inconsistent with principles of the European law," Ast told reporters.

The Commission in December took the unprecedented step of invoking Article 7 against Poland, a procedure that could see Poland lose its voting rights as an EU member for violating the bloc's democratic principles, if the measure is supported by all other EU countries. Brussels said there was "a clear risk of a serious breach of the rule of law” in Warsaw and gave the Polish government three months to respond to its recommendations.

The deadline expired on Tuesday, with the Polish government failing to convince Brussels of its position. A 94-page "white book" — explaining the government's view that the reforms were legitimate — was rejected by Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans who said it was “not the answer to the Commission’s recommendations.”

Poland also appeared to retreat on the Holocaust law, which criminalizes statements made anywhere in the world that ascribe guilt for wartime Nazi atrocities to the Polish state or nation. The law was condemned for aiming to stifle discussions of darker chapters of Poland's wartime past, when some Poles helped Germans kill Jews.

On Thursday, the Polish prosecutor general's office said that parts of the law applying to foreigners were "dysfunctional" and violated the Polish constitution. Ziobro is the prosecutor general as well as the minister of justice, and it was his ministry that prepared the initial law.

President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, signed the bill into law, but then sent it to be examined by the Constitutional Tribunal, now under the control of the ruling party.

Thursday's moves, largely aimed at placating external problems, come as PiS faces growing domestic challenges. The party has seen a recent dip in support, according to opinion polls, although it is still ahead of the opposition. It also faces a PR blowback after ministers granted themselves juicy financial rewards, and a protest scheduled for Friday over a tough new anti-abortion law.