Judges retirement law deemed unconstitutional

On Monday, Hungary's Constitutional Court threw out provisions of a law, which fixed the retirement age of judges to the general retirement age. The relevant parts of the law were annulled with retroactive effect to Jan. 1 this year.

The court said in a statement that both the form and content of the law
violated the constitutional requirement that judges be independent. The law,
subject to infringement proceedings launched by the European Commission,
reduces the retirement age of judges, prosecutors and notaries from 70 to the
general retirement age of 62 years.

Despite the ruling by the Constitutional Court, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was defiant and said his government will find the way to force judges to retire at the age of 62.