Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki has faced stiff opposition for Warsaw's court reforms

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A statement, published by the European Network of Councils for the Judiciary, said the body would hold an emergency meeting to discuss the Polish National Court Register’s (KRS) membership. Warsaw’s ruling Law and Justice party has slashed the retirement age of supreme court judges from 70 to 65, which forces 27 of the 74 sitting judges to retire. Critics, including the European Commission, claim the move weakens the independence of the country’s judicial system. The ENCJ no longer believes the KRS are worthy of a spot on its board because it is politicised, lacks legitimacy and no longer meets European standards.

Their statement said: “On August 16 2018, the ENCJ board informed the Polish KRS that it would convene an extraordinary general assembly on September 17 in Bucharest to decide on the position of the KRS in the ENCJ. “The board has proposed to the members of the ENCJ to suspend the membership of the KRS as it no longer meets the requirements of ENCJ that it is independent of the executive and legislature so as to ensure the independence of the Polish judiciary.” The European Commission has threatened to strip Warsaw of its voting rights unless its government reverses the controversial reforms. On Tuesday, the EU’s powerful executive announced Poland had one month to amend the law or face being dragged in front of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

Officials said: “The response of the Polish authorities does not alleviate the Commission’s legal concerns.” Last year, Brussels took an unprecedented step to consider the use of Article 7 – which could lead Poland’s EU voting rights being removed – as a threat against the new legislation. The Commission sent a letter of formal notice to Warsaw on July 2 and they said that Poland’s reply to this fails to “alleviate the commission’s legal concerns”. Brussels has constantly said the court reforms are “incompatible with EU law as it undermines the principal of judicial independence, including the irremovability of judges”.

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