La procedura d’infrazione come strumento di tutela dei valori fondamentali dell’Unione europea. Note a margine della sentenza della Corte di giustizia nella causa Commissione/Polonia

This paper focuses on the relationship between the infringement procedure (Art. 258 TFEU) and the mechanism set up by Art. 7 TEU after the judgment delivered by the Court of Justice on 24th June 2019 (case C-619/18, Commission/Poland). Even if Commission triggered the Article 7 procedure, in fact, Poland did not comply with the recommendations given by the Commission, focused on the lack of judicial independence due to some recent reforms involving the whole judiciary. The infringement procedure launched by the European Commission against Poland concerned the recent reform (2017-2018), adopted by Polish Parliament, which lowers the retirement age of judges of the Supreme Court, provoking the anticipate retirement of 27 judges. The Commission considered this law in contrast with both Article 19 TEU and Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, which establish the requirements that have to be satisfied to comply with the right to an effective judicial protection. After a brief introduction concerning both the orders given by the Court before its final decision and the Opinion delivered by the Advocate General Tanchev, subsequently this paper focuses on the judgment given by the Court, which finally declares that Poland failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 19 TEU. Some concluding remarks follow, especially highlighting the possibility to use the infringement procedure (Art. 258 TFEU) as a powerful (and more efficient) tool to protect fundamental values in the ongoing rule of law crisis.