It was a scenario feared for a long time, as much by the Polish democratic opposition and the associations of judges as by the European institutions. Thursday, October 7, the Polish Constitutional Court, under the orders of the national-conservative majority of the PiS (Law and Justice), issued a judgment perceived as calling into question one of the foundations of the European Union (EU): the rule of law European law on national rights. As the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) multiplies unfavorable judgments in Warsaw, Poland’s highest legal body has ruled that the CJEU’s interpretation of European treaties is, on certain points, incompatible with the Constitution Polish.
The judgment is a new stage in the conflict which, since 2016, has pitted the European institutions against the Polish populist government over its reforms which, in the opinion of the unanimity of jurists, call into question the independence of the judiciary and the foundations of the rule of law. Warsaw sends, through its highest legal body, a clear message: Brussels’ interference in this reform process will not be recognized. For many observers, this political decision opens a breach in the European legislative system.
This decision was taken by an institution which was among the first to be brought under control by the PiS, as soon as it came to power in November 2015. Obliged by politicized judges, directly appointed by the parliamentary majority, the Constitutional Tribunal is often qualified. Poland “Legal anomaly”. Its president, Julia Przylebska, is close to the country’s strongman and majority leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and the wife of the Polish ambassador to Berlin.
Constitutional court, “legal anomaly”
The head of government, Mateusz Morawiecki, had filed the petition with the Tribunal in March, when the Luxembourg Court struck a pillar of the controversial judicial reforms put in place by the PiS. “The Constitutional Court has recognized that the attempt by the CJEU to interfere in the Polish judicial system calls into question the principles of the rule of law, the primacy of the Polish constitution as well as the principle of safeguarding sovereignty in the process. European integration “, communicated the institution.
In the opinion of the Tribunal, national prerogatives cannot be exercised by “Bodies to which Poland has not transferred its powers” at the risk that the country “Loses its legal sovereignty”. The President of the General Court, justifying the judgment, underlined that by complying with these unconstitutional judgments, “Poland cannot function as a sovereign and democratic state” ; ” the Polish Constitution ceases to be the highest legal standard ” and “The organs of the EU function outside the competences entrusted to them in the treaties”. In its showdown with Brussels, the Polish government will not fail to make this judgment a weighty argument.
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