26.11.2018

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 427/30

(Case C-619/18)

(2018/C 427/39)

Language of the case: Polish

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by K. Banks, H. Krämer and S. Kaleda, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Republic of Poland

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:

—declare that by lowering the retirement age of judges of the Sąd Najwyższy (Supreme Court) and applying it to judges appointed to the Supreme Court before 3 April 2018, and by granting the President of the Republic of Poland discretion to extend the active mandate of Supreme Court judges, the Republic of Poland has failed to fulfil its obligation under the second subparagraph of Article 19(1) of the Treaty on European Union, in conjunction with Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union;

—order the Republic of Poland to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

First, the Commission claims that the provisions of the Law of 8 December 2017 on the Supreme Court (ustawa z dnia 8 grudnia 2017 r. o Sądzie Najwyższym), lowering the retirement age of judges currently in office, appointed to the Supreme Court before the date of entry into force of that law (3 April 2018), infringes the principle of security of tenure of judges.

Second, the Commission maintains that the provisions of the Law on the Supreme Court, granting the President of the Republic of Poland discretion to extend the active mandate of Supreme Court judges, infringes the principle of judicial independence.