The Polish constitutional court ruled on Thursday, October 7 that certain articles of European treaties are incompatible with its national constitution and undermine the country’s sovereignty. “European bodies are acting beyond their competence”, declared the president of the tribunal, Julia Przylebska.
The move is the latest twist in a long clash between Poland and the European Union (EU) over controversial judicial reforms introduced by the ruling nationalist conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party. In his judgment, Mme Przylebska listed several articles of the EU treaty which she said are incompatible with Polish Supreme Law, further denouncing “The interference of the Court of Justice of the EU in the Polish legal system”.
Government spokesman Piotr Müller welcomed the court ruling, stressing that it confirmed “The primacy of constitutional law over other sources of law”. However, the latter considers that this decision “Does not affect the areas in which the EU has delegated powers in the Treaties”, such as competition, trade and consumer protection rules.
Primacy of Polish law over European laws
The highest legal body in the country, which had postponed its decision four times in a row, thus affirms the primacy of Polish law over European law, approaching a real “legislative Polexit”, a scarecrow brandished for a long time by the democratic opposition. The European Union quickly said it was ready to resort to “To all tools” to preserve the primacy of European law.
Last month, the European commissioner in charge of the economy Paolo Gentiloni had already warned that the Polish court case could have ” consequences “ on the disbursement of stimulus funds to Poland. The European Union has not yet approved the 23 billion euros in subsidies and the 34 billion euros in cheap loans planned for this country. The Polish government then qualified Mr. Gentiloni’s remarks as ” blackmail “.
Since then, European officials have explained that the money could be disbursed next month, but that strict conditions would be imposed in exchange for respect for the rule of law. Last month, the European Commission asked the Court of Justice of the European Union to impose daily fines on Poland until it suspends judicial reforms.
The dispute with Brussels focused in particular on a new disciplinary system for judges which, according to the EU, seriously threatens the independence of the judiciary in Poland. But there are other bones of contention, including the appointment of judges and their transfer without their consent to different courts or divisions of the same court. Poland said reforms were necessary to eradicate corruption in the justice system and ignored an interim order from the European Union Court of Justice to suspend the application of this disciplinary system.
“There will be no Polexit”
This conflict has raised fears that Poland will eventually leave the European Union, which could affect the stability of this community of states. Last month, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the head of PiS, rejected the idea, saying that Poland only wanted to end the“Interference” of the EU. “There will be no Polexit (…) We clearly see the future of Poland in the European Union ”, Kaczynski said.
The Poles are overwhelmingly enthusiastic about the European Union, more than 80% of them supporting membership of the EU which has given their country billions of euros in subsidies and all its gains, stimulating thus its development since its accession in 2004.
But relations between Warsaw and Brussels have become strained since the PiS took power in 2015. Ryszard Terlecki, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, recently called for “Drastic solutions” in the conflict between Poland and the EU. “The British have shown that the dictatorship of the Brussels bureaucracy does not suit them. They turned around and left ”, did he declare.