Poland must explain retirement age plan


The European Commission has written to the Polish government asking for an explanation of its plan to return to different gender retirement ages. 


The letter, sent jointly by Marianne Thyssen, the employment commissioner, and Věra Jourová, the commissioner responsible for justice and gender equality, asks the Polish government to explain its decision last year to abandon moves towards a gradual equalisation of the retirement age and go back to the previous arrangement where women retire at 60 and men at 65. 


Commission spokesperson Mina Andreeva said that that “equal treatment is a crucial pillar on which the EU is founded”, and that there had been rules on equal treatment in relation to social protection since 1979. Reintroducing discrimination, she said was not “within the spirit of European law”.