"The European Commission launched an infringement procedure against Poland by sending a letter of formal notice, following the publication in the Polish Official Journal of the Law on the Ordinary Courts Organisation on Friday 28 July," the European Commission said in a statement. The Commission said the threat to judicial independence came from the Polish justice minister getting “discretionary power to prolong the mandate of judges who have reached retirement age as well as to dismiss and appoint court presidents.”

Other concerns, it said, include “discrimination on the basis of gender” by setting the retirement age at 60 for female judges and at 65 for their male counterparts. Other concerns, it said, include "discrimination on the basis of gender" by setting the retirement age at 60 for female judges and at 65 for their male counterparts. Poland’s deputy foreign minister for European affairs, Konrad Szymanski, said the new law carried proper guarantees and the EU action was “unfounded.”

The EU move had been expected after Duda on Tuesday signed into law a measure allowing the justice minister to unilaterally replace the chief justices of common courts, which rank below the Supreme Court. Timmermans also sent a letter on Friday to Poland’s Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski and Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro saying the “Commission’s hand is still extended” as he invited them to Brussels to relaunch a long drawn-out dialogue on the judiciary reforms. Timmermans said on July 26 that the commission could trigger Article 7, a legal process of suspending Poland's EU voting rights, if Warsaw went ahead with plans to undermine the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law. It said Poland`s governing Law and Justice Party (PiS) had one month to respond to Commission concerns, including that "the independence of Polish courts will be undermined" by increased powers for the justice minister.
The European Union's executive branch sends a formal notice to Poland expressing their concern that the new "discretionary" powers given to the country's justice minister threaten the independence of the courts in violation of EU laws. Poland has a month to respond.