EU top court rules Polish court chamber is not a tribunal under EU law

FILE PHOTO: European Union (EU) flags fly in front of the headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt, Germany, July 8, 2020. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski/File Photo

WARSAW (Reuters) - The European Union's top court said on Thursday that Poland's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs of the Supreme Court was not an independent tribunal under EU law.

The Chamber, created as part of nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party reforms of the judiciary, is responsible, among other things, for ruling on the validity of national elections including those of Oct. 15, as a result of which PiS lost power.