Polish reform on judges' retirement age violates law, ECHR rules

WARSAW (Reuters) - Legislation which lowered the retirement age for Polish judges violates their rights, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said on Tuesday, as reforms in Poland are expected to come under the spotlight following a national vote this month.

Pro-EU opposition parties won a majority in elections on Oct. 15, a huge shift for Poland after eight years of rule by the Law and Justice (PiS) party, and feuding with Brussels over issues ranging from judicial independence to LGBT rights.

The new government has not yet formed but Donald Tusk, a former president of the European Council, and the leader of Poland's largest liberal opposition grouping Civic Coalition (KO) is a candidate to lead it.

The parties will face challenges rolling back the court reforms of PiS, which is one of the conditions for obtaining EU recovery funds.

Under the judicial reform, the decision on allowing a judge to keep working after reaching retirement age - 60 for female judges and 65 for their male peers - depends on the authorisation of the minister of justice and National Council of the Judiciary. The ECHR ruled this constituted "arbitrary and unlawful interference in the sphere of judicial independence".

"The Court took the view that judges should enjoy protection from arbitrary decisions by the legislative and executive powers and that only oversight by an independent judicial body of the legality of a disputed measure was able to render such protection effective," it said.

The reform was part of a series of judiciary changes introduced by the PiS party, in power since 2015, over which it clashed with European institutions, including changes to a council that decides on appointments of judges.

The European court also said the fact the legislation differentiated between the retirement ages of female and male judges was contrary to European rules on equal treatment.

The European Court held that Poland was to pay the four applicants between 20,000 and 26,000 euros ($27,667) each in damages.

The Strasbourg court has several dozen cases pending over appointments of Polish judges. The PiS government has ignored multiple past rulings by European bodies over its judiciary and other matters, saying they were illegal and politically motivated interference.

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(Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Deborah Kyvrikosaios)