EU court rules Poland has refused to comply with judicial independence rules

People joined an anti-government march in Warsaw (Czarek Sokolowski/AP)

The European Union has stepped up its rule-of-law fight with Poland after the bloc’s highest court confirmed that Warsaw had refused to comply with EU rules on judicial independence.

The European Court of Justice ruled on Monday that Poland’s 2019 justice reform infringed EU law after the European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch, warned that the Polish Supreme Court lacked the necessary independence and impartiality.