BRUSSELS, Belgium: The European Union has opened legal proceedings against Poland, raising questions about the legal system of the 27 nations.
In October, the Polish Constitutional Court ruled that its national laws have supremacy over EU laws in areas where they are in conflict, which is contrary to bloc regulations requiring member states to align their laws with Union rules, which are overseen by the European Court of Justice.
When the EU’s executive, the European Commission, launched the legal action, it said it considered two decisions by the Constitutional Court this year taken by Poland, which joined the Union in 2004, as “explicitly challenging the primacy of EU law”.
Economic Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, who announced the legal measures, said the rulings “violate the general principles of autonomy, precedence, efficiency and uniform application of Union law and the binding effect of judgments of the European Court of Justice.”
He added that the Commission, which proposes EU laws and monitors their application, considers that the Polish court “no longer meets the requirements of an independent and impartial tribunal established by law, as required by the (EU) Treaty.”
Legal action is the latest in a list of disputes between Brussels and the Warsaw right-wing government in Warsaw over the state of the country’s legal system, rule of law and media freedoms.
Earlier this year, the European Court of Justice ordered Poland to pay $ 1.2 million a day to prevent “serious and irreparable damage” to EU legal order and values.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has rejected the Commission’s objections and Brussels questioning the independence of the Polish Constitutional Court.
The court “not only meets all the independent criteria, but is a constitutional court that oversees the constitution and ensures that it remains the highest law in the Republic of Poland,” he said, according to reports from the Polish news agency PAP.
However, Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said EU action would help turn it into a “federal state”, which Poland’s ruling party strongly opposes.
“The logic of the European Commission’s position is clear. It is about incapacitating the Polish state and Polish democracy,” he said.
At the same time, John Morijn, Professor of Law at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, welcomed the Commission’s actions and told the Associated Press that it confirms that the Polish Constitutional Court threatens fundamental EU principles.