The European Union's top court has ruled that a Polish law lowering the retirement age for judges and setting different ages depending on their gender violates EU law.

In a setback for Poland's right-wing government, the European Court of Justice said in Tuesday's ruling that the 2017 law lowering the age of retirement for women to 60 and for men to 65 — down from 67 — "introduced directly discriminatory conditions based on sex."

The court rejected Poland's argument that it could be seen as positive discrimination and said measures giving the justice minister the ability to retain certain judges beyond their retirement age could breach judicial independence.

Since the Law and Justice party came to power in 2015, Polish government authorities have increasingly taken control of the judicial system, replacing judges and prosecutors forced into retirement with their own picks.