Polish MEPs: “80 percent want to stay in the EU”

The Polish MEP Thun has campaigned for her country to join the Union – and is appalled by the judgment of the Constitutional Court. Like ex-Council President Tusk, she calls for protests.

The Polish Christian Democrat Roza Thun expresses massive criticism of the government of her country and the judgment of the constitutional court, which found parts of EU law to be incompatible with the national constitution.

What the Polish government does, falls back on all Poles, including those who are extremely concerned about the decision and do not agree with it, said the MEP in the daily topics. The judgment of the Constitutional Court is a political decision and will have political consequences.

Thun does not accept the justification for the decision that Poland is no longer so sovereign under EU law: “Every EU nation, even Germany, is a small country when you look at the globe. Without the EU, none of them would be.” Countries really sovereign, because you can only mean something in the world together and thus have a say. “80 percent of Poles want to stay in the EU and are democratically oriented,” Thun emphasized. She hoped that the EU decision-makers would be on their side Protests are planned in many cities over the weekend: “The people are extremely mobilized.”

Former EU Council President calls for protests

The former EU Council President Donald Tusk does not want to accept the judgment either. “I call on everyone who wants to defend a European Poland to come to Palace Square in Warsaw at 6 p.m. on Sunday,” he wrote on Twitter. “Only together can we stop them.” Tusk is the acting chairman of Poland’s largest opposition party, the liberal-conservative Civic Platform.

“Risk of Leaving”

The decision of the highest Polish court met with a negative response in Brussels and in several EU countries. The EU Commission reacted with concern to the process. EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said that “all means” will be used to ensure that EU law is respected in Poland. The principle that EU law takes precedence over national law, as well as the binding character of decisions by the EU judiciary, are central to the confederation of states.

“There is a de facto risk of leaving the European Union,” said France’s European Minister Clement Beaune to the broadcaster BFM TV. Even though he didn’t want Poland to leave the EU, he added. Economic sanctions are, however, an option to react. Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said the Polish government was playing with fire.

The European political spokeswoman for the Greens in Germany, Franziska Brantner, called for consequences after the verdict. “Now is the turn of the EU Commission and must immediately draw clear and unambiguous consequences in order to secure the legal unity of the EU. For this it needs the full support of Germany. The time to appease is over,” she told the Reuters news agency.

Maas calls on Poland to comply with EU rules

Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called on Poland to comply with EU law. “If a country politically decides to be part of the EU, it must also ensure that the agreed rules are fully implemented,” said the SPD politician to the newspapers of the “Funke Mediengruppe”. “To be a member of the European Union means that we share values, benefit from a strong common internal market and speak with one voice.”

Indirectly, he threatened consequences if this did not happen. “But it also means that we adhere to common rules that form the foundation of the European Union – with all the consequences,” said Maas. At the same time, he promised the European Commission full support. The German government supports the EU Commission “to enforce European law everywhere in the EU”, said Maas.

Judgment means new legal territory

Poland’s constitutional court ruled yesterday that central elements of the European treaties were incompatible with the Polish constitution. The court underlined that it not only has the right to review the constitutionality of EU law, but also the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ). EU law does not always take precedence over national law, and with their action against Warsaw the EU institutions are exceeding their competences, said the presiding judge Julia Przylebska.

In the proceedings, she stated that the constitutional courts of other countries had already questioned the competences of the European Court of Justice: The Federal Constitutional Court, for example, secured a right of final decision in an emergency. To declare all the basic rules of the Union as subordinate in case of doubt, however, means new legal territory.

Constitutional Court under suspicion

The Polish constitutional court itself has been under suspicion of bias since a controversial reorganization. The European Court of Human Rights recently even expressed doubts in a judgment as to whether the Constitutional Court can judge freely and fairly; it is partly composed illegally.

Poland’s national-conservative PiS government has been restructuring the judiciary for years. Critics accuse her of putting judges under pressure. Due to the reforms, the EU Commission has already opened several infringement proceedings against Warsaw and filed suits with the European Court of Justice. There are also fines and the withholding of the payment of EU funds to Poland.

With information from Jan Pallokat, ARD Studio Warsaw