Status: 10/19/2021 3:49 a.m.
The latest ruling by the Polish Constitutional Court is considered a new low in the dispute between Brussels and Warsaw. Today the EU Parliament is debating, and Poland’s Prime Minister Morawiecki will also speak. He cannot expect much encouragement.
Mateusz Morawiecki will have to dress warmly when he appears in the European Parliament. Poland’s Prime Minister of the national-conservative PiS party has EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen against him – and the majority of MPs. The outrage is enormous after the judgment of the Polish Constitutional Court, which denied the primacy of EU law over national law.
According to the Vice-President of the EU Parliament, Katarina Barley from the SPD, Morawiecki only came to put on a show for his own audience within Poland: “Unfortunately, this Polish government has absolutely no interest in moving back within the European community of states” , she says.
In Barley’s view, Poland is leaving the European legal community with the latest ruling by its constitutional court. “This is completely new, even if the Polish government tries to present it as something completely normal. In this respect, this is the maximum escalation that a country, a politically controlled constitutional court can achieve.”
Poland outside the EU legal community?
The Green MEP Daniel Freund also said: “This is an attack on the legal order of the European Union like we have never seen it before.”
The MEP of the Polish ruling party PiS, Zidslaw Krasnodebski, a party friend of Morawiecki, sees it very differently: “Interpretations that say that we want to leave the European legal community are misinterpretations.”
Poland’s constitutional court, which is dominated by members close to the government, ruled on October 7th that articles of the EU treaties violate Polish law and therefore do not have to be applied in Poland. A week ago the government in Warsaw published the verdict in the Official Gazette, making it legally binding. Prime Minister Morawiecki himself had called for such a ruling in March following decisions by the European Court of Justice against the controversial restructuring of the Polish judiciary.
In a letter to the other heads of state and government, Morawiecki declared that Poland would remain a loyal EU member and was ready for dialogue. In doing so, the sovereignty of the country must be respected without being forced to give up national competencies.
The PiS representative in Strasbourg, Krasnodebski, also emphasizes: “The EU has certain competencies, but these are limited. Parliament, the Commission and the European Court of Justice cannot expand these competencies as they wish or decide for themselves.”
“Almost all possibilities of the EU exhausted”
The EU Commission could now initiate further infringement proceedings. However, previous proceedings have not impressed Warsaw. The Social Democrat Barley says: “In the meantime almost all possibilities of the EU have been exhausted. Probably the most effective means now is the withholding of financial payments.”
The EU Commission is currently not approving funds for reconstruction after the corona pandemic. Poland is entitled to around 36 billion euros from the fund, including 24 billion in grants that do not have to be repaid. But the money can only flow after the Commission has approved the Polish government’s reconstruction plan. Brussels sees control by an independent judiciary as a prerequisite for EU aid to be used properly.
The Greens MP Freund also sees money as an effective lever in the hands of the Commission: “We have just seen that in the recent past. There are a number of regions in Poland that have declared themselves free from sexual minorities. And soon one has credibly signaled: You are welcome to do that, but then there will be no more EU money, they will have collected their resolutions and declarations again. “
Push for EU rule of law mechanism
Since the beginning of the year, the Commission has also had the option of reducing funds to member states if there is a risk of money being misused due to violations of the rule of law. The EU Commission did not want to use this mechanism until the ECJ ruled against complaints from Hungary and Poland. But the MEPs will urge Commission head Ursula von der Leyen once again in the debate to use the instrument immediately.
To increase the pressure, Parliament is preparing a complaint against the Commission for failure to act. The Green politician Freund emphasizes: “Parliament will formally file this lawsuit in Luxembourg by November 2nd at the latest. If she still wants to prevent her from being officially tried for failure to protect the rule of law, then this week is the last chance to prevent that by starting the proceedings now. ”
In any case, the heads of state and government will meet in Brussels at the end of the week – and many are concerned. The judgment from Poland should therefore also be on the agenda at the EU summit.