WARSAW, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission's infringement procedure against Poland was "unjustified", Polish deputy Foreign Minister Konrad Szymanski said on Saturday.
Commenting on the decision by the Commission, Szymanski said Poland's new ordinary courts law contained "all the procedural guarantees and legal remedies".
He emphasized that "in all the matters relating to a given legal case, decisions are made by the judges in charge of it", therefore "all the procedural guarantees and legal remedies are in force ... so we regard the EC's stance as unjustified", according to Polish Press Agency.
Szymanski also said that the law brought the judges' retirement age "into line with the general rules in this matter", and announced that "all of these points would be elaborated upon in Poland's official letter to the EC".
The European Commission on Saturday launched infringement procedure against Poland over the law, which it said falls foul of gender equality in employment and undermines judicial independence. It had sent a "letter of formal notice" to Warsaw, giving the Polish government one month to reply.
The key concern the Commission raised in the letter is that the law introduces a different retirement age for female and male judges, violating the gender equality principle. It also frowned on the discretionary power invested in Polish justice minister to dismiss and appoint court presidents.
Also on Saturday, Polish presidential minister Krzysztof Szczerski responded by saying that the European Commission was going out of its way to "prove its competence in the case of Poland's judicial reform even though it obviously lacks the necessary knowledge".
"The European Commission has entered a path that leads nowhere", Szczerski said, adding that "the justice system was an internal matter of every state".
The Polish government's judicial reform, which began in 2015, has drawn criticism from the EU, which has sent Warsaw several warnings since then.
