Earlier in the day, the EU's top court, the European Court of Justice, ruled that Poland needed to suspend a law that lowered the retirement age for Supreme Court judges and to put about two dozen justices the law had affected back on the bench. President Andrzej Duda has signed the amendment to the Supreme Court law that allows the judges who were sent to retirement after reaching 65 years of age to return to the court duties, informed the Deputy Chief of the President's Chancellery Paweł Mucha on Monday evening. The April law backed by Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party lowered the judges' retirement age from 70 to 65, allowing them to stay on past that age only if they gained the permission of President Andrzej Duda. In Monday's ruling, the EU's top court found that the Commission's arguments about Poland's actions were not unwarranted, and that otherwise "the independence of that court may not be ensured" until the ECJ issues its verdict on the Commission's challenge.
Polish President Andrzej Duda signs into law the bill, passed by the Parliament of Poland three weeks ago, reinstating the Supreme Court judges who had been forced out of their jobs when legislation to lower the judges's mandatory retirement age was enacted in July. This addresses one of the issues that has been in dispute with the European Union.