EU court hears Polish, EC positions in Supreme Court case

During a two-hour Monday hearing at the EU Court of Justice (CJEU) in Luxembourg, the Polish government and the European Commission (EC) presented their arguments over interim measures being applied to the Polish Supreme Court's Disciplinary Chamber. The Polish representative maintained that the EC had no justification in applying for interim measures in the matter, while the EC claimed the Disciplinary Chamber cannot be recognised as an independent and unbiased body. Speaking for the Commission, Saulius Kaleda said the EC had applied for disputed rules to be suspended because their application undermines the guarantees defending the independence of judges. He argued that the EC's motion to suspend the rules did not concern suspension of the Supreme Court's activities themselves and said the EC wanted courts to be able to use that guarantee until a verdict had been passed in the main case.