EU to halt Polish voting rights if top judges fired

The EU will "immediately" take steps to halt Poland's voting rights in the bloc if it pushes through with controversial reforms of the country's top court, European Commission vice president Frans Timmermans said today.

"The commission's recommendation asks the Polish authorities not to take any measure to dismiss or force the retirement of supreme court judges. If such a measure is taken the commission is ready to immediately trigger the article 7 procedure," Timmermans said, referring to an EU law designed to uphold the rule of law.