The judgment of the Polish Constitutional Court has finally arrived – and it turns out as expected: Poland’s constitution allegedly stands above several articles of the EU treaties that oblige member states to obey the rule of law and give the European Court of Justice (ECJ) the authority to make decisions EU member has to follow – whether they suit him or not.
On July 14th, the long discredited constitutional court in Poland ruled that two articles of the EU treaties were unconstitutional. But Wednesday’s ruling is a different matter: It follows a more than 100-page motion from Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who is already systematically disregarding ECJ rulings and orders.
What’s next in Brussels? Hardly anything radical. Since 2015, Brussels – and Berlin – have stood by and watched as Poland dismantled the rule of law – starting with the previously highly respected Constitutional Court. Certainly, the EU will now ask Warsaw to pay. But a daily fine of 500,000 euros imposed by the ECJ in September is just as unaffected by Warsaw as an imminent further penalty, which, according to EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders, could amount to a million euros a day.
In view of the tens of billions of euros that Warsaw receives net from Brussels, Poland’s ruler Jarosław Kaczyński pays such amounts out of his postage if he achieves his central goal: building an authoritarian state. A compliant judiciary is a prerequisite for this. It might be different if the EU Commission withheld all the billions of euros due to Poles from the Corona reconstruction program until the rule of law is fully restored. However, previous experience and announcements unfortunately indicate that the EU will ultimately be satisfied with cosmetic concessions again.