EC: different retirement ages for men and women are ‘reverting to discrimination’

The European Commission described setting different retirement ages for male and female judges in the recently passed bill on Polish courts as “reverting to discrimination.” The Commission’s statement was in response to a query submitted by trade union “Solidarność,” asking whether Vice President Frans Timmermans’ questioning judges’ retirement age in the new bill on courts was his view on Poland differentiating retirement age between men and women in general. EC’s spokesperson Mina Andreewa stressed that equal treatment of men and women is a key pillar on which EU is built. “Since 1979 we have principles whose goal is to consequently implement equal treatment of men and women in social policy. That includes retirement age,” she stated. In 2012 Poland introduced a reform that gradually increased the retirement age for both men and women to a common threshold of 67 years of age. In 2016, current government abolished that reform and re-introduced retirement ages of 60 for women and 65 for men.