Shop on Impakter Eco
  • Women
  • Men
  • Kids
  • Beautycare
  • Home & Living
  • Food & Drinks
  • Pets
Impakter
  • Shop Eco
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
    • Entertainment
    • Literature
    • Music
    • Photography
  • Style
    • Architecture
    • Design
    • Fashion
    • Foodscape
    • Lifestyle
  • Society
    • Business
    • Environment
    • Foreign Affairs & Politics
    • Health
    • Tech
    • Science
    • Start-up
  • Impact
    • Eco Life
    • Circular Economy
    • COP26
    • CityLife
      • Copenhagen
      • San Francisco
      • Seattle
      • Sydney
    • Sustainability Series
      • SDGs Series
      • Shape Your Future
      • 2030: Dream or Reality
    • Philanthropy
      • United Nations
      • NGO & Charities
      • Essays
    • Your Voice
      • Empower Earth
      • Empower Equality
  • SUSTAINABILITY INDEX
  • Startup-Hub
    • Companies
    • Investors
    • Organisations
    • Jobs
    • Events
  • Partners
  • About
    • Team
    • Global Leaders
    • Contributors
    • Write for Impakter
    • IMPAKTER Italy
    • Republishing Content
    • Permissions and Copyright
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
Impakter
No Result
View All Result
Home Future of Europe Series

Poland Threatens  European Rule of Law: Is EU at Risk?

Poland’s constitutional court challenges the primacy of European law, a cornerstone of the European Union

Claude Forthomme - Senior EditorbyClaude Forthomme - Senior Editor
October 8, 2021
in Future of Europe Series, Politics & Foreign Affairs
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Yesterday, in Warsaw, Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal issued a ruling that, as many observers have noted, directly challenges the Court of Justice of the European Union’s mandate, saying Poland’s laws overrode EU law – hence threatening the primacy of European law, one of the pillars of the European Union. 

The Polish court ruled that some EU treaties go against Poland’s highest laws – saying that they conflict with the Polish constitution. If Poland goes ahead and the ruling is officially published, then both the EU Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, and the EU Court of Justice will have to not just react but act. Any member country of the EU, by its very membership, agrees to recognize the supremacy of EU treaties over its own laws, and that the EU court of justice is the supreme court of the bloc. A member who disagrees, as Poland has just done, is setting itself up to leave the union.

Jakub Jaraczewski, a research coordinator at Democracy Reporting International, described the court ruling as “a legal Polexit,” the Polish equivalent of a Brexit move out of the EU. By effectively declaring itself apart from European law, he said, Poland is on a path that “might have dramatic consequences depending on the reaction of the European Commission and the E.U. Court of Justice.” The French European Affairs Minister Clément Beaune on BFMTV said Poland was at “risk of a de facto exit”, adding that if there is “no basic respect for the common rules of rights and freedoms of Europe,” there can be “no support” for Poland. 

How did all this happen? The judicial wranglings between Poland and the EU can be directly traced to the Polish ruling party, the nationalist Law and Justice party that has a clearly populist and anti-democratic agenda – following in the footsteps of Prime Minister Viktor Orbàn, Hungary’s autocratic leader, aligning Poland with his “liberal democracy” ideology. 

The quarrel with the European Union is not new. It began five years ago with an autocratic drift covering a range of issues like media independence passing a bill suppressing press freedoms and L.G.B.T.Q. rights, that has led Poland to establish “LGBT free” areas (i.e. free from an alleged “Gay ideology”), clearly putting democratic freedoms in Poland at risk. And, more to the point here, the Law and Justice party has taken control over the Polish judicial system through a so-called “judiciary reform”, dictating, inter alia, who can and cannot be a judge and where they must be posted, including in its highest court of law, the Constitutional Tribunal that has now two judges, illegally appointed by the party.

Over recent years, the EU Court of Justice has issued several warnings to Poland, notably this summer, with a ruling that Poland’s controversial disciplinary procedure for judges violates European law. On Wednesday came the latest: it found that transfers of judges to new posts against their will are “potentially capable of undermining the principles of the irremovability of judges and judicial independence.” 

In a strong statement, the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said the Polish ruling “raises serious concerns in relation to the primacy of E.U. law” and vowed to uphold “the founding principles of the Union’s legal order, namely that: E.U. law has primacy over national law, including constitutional provisions.”

The EU Commission is not bereft of means to put pressure on Poland, notably withholding Covid recovery funds. The figures at stake are considerable: Poland was set to get € 23.9 billion in grants and € 12.1 billion in loans. 

The way forward for the EU Commission is to exercise its role as keeper of the EU treaties and call on the EU Court of Justice to act. This will result in a further series of warnings from the court, and whether Poland accepts to toe the line and respect the EU law supremacy remains to be seen. 

A clear majority of Poles want to stay in the European Union, some 80 percent or more. A recent poll (September 2021) even showed that 93 percent of Poles wished to stay in the EU, and even more in large cities: 94 percent.

However, the ruling party still has hefty support, especially in rural areas. And the problem is the Polish government continues to tell its supporters that a European Union “à la carte” is possible, getting the benefits from the EU without having to follow all the rules of the EU treaties. Something that is now becoming clearly impossible. Will the Polish electorate realize this?


Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by Impakter.com columnists or contributors are their own, not those of Impakter.com. — In the featured image: “Poland: Too little rule of law, too many police: The draconian ruling of the Polish Constitutional Court which bans pregnancy terminations even in instances where a foetus is diagnosed with a serious and irreversible birth defect, has brought thousands of people to the streets in 2020. The peaceful rally on Nov 18 had to confront heavy police presence and police brutality, including plainclothes police attacking people with batons, teargassing protesters, media, and members of parliament who according to the Polish law, are allowed to intervene during protests and are covered by immunity. It was one of the saddest days of our democracy.” Photo credit: Piotr Lewandowski

Tags: EU Court of JusticeEU lawPolandPoland's Constitutional TribunalPolexit
Previous Post

WHO Approves Malaria Vaccine in Scientific Breakthrough

Next Post

Nobel Peace Prize 2021 Awarded to Two Journalists Who Stood Up to Putin and Duterte

Claude Forthomme - Senior Editor

Claude Forthomme - Senior Editor

Claude Forthomme is an economist (Columbia U. graduate) and aid expert; former director (ADG-level) of Europe and Central Asia Regional Office of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization; author of several fiction and non-fiction books in English and Italian

Related Posts

Taiwan Crisis: China Ends Military Drills, Withdraws Promise to Not Send Troops to Taiwan “After Unification”
Politics & Foreign Affairs

Taiwan: Could China’s War Games Turn Real?

August 11, 2022
Taiwan Crisis: China Ends Military Drills, Withdraws Promise to Not Send Troops to Taiwan “After Unification”
Politics & Foreign Affairs

Taiwan Crisis: China Ends Military Drills, Withdraws Promise to Not Send Troops to Taiwan “After Unification”

August 10, 2022
Good Morning America: The Fight Against Climate Change Leaps Forward 
Climate Change

Good Morning America: The Fight Against Climate Change Leaps Forward 

August 10, 2022
Next Post
Nobel Peace Prize 2021 Awarded to Two Journalists Who Stood Up to Putin and Duterte

Nobel Peace Prize 2021 Awarded to Two Journalists Who Stood Up to Putin and Duterte

Recent News

One of Earth’s Driest Places Sees 75% of Annual Rainfall in Just 3 Hours

One of Earth’s Driest Places Sees 75% of Annual Rainfall in Just 3 Hours

August 11, 2022
SiTration Raises $ 2.3M To Further Develop Its Battery Recycling Technology

SiTration Raises $ 2.3M To Further Develop Its Battery Recycling Technology

August 11, 2022
For Sustainable Urban Logistics, Data Makes All the Difference

For Sustainable Urban Logistics, Data Makes All the Difference

August 11, 2022
impakter-logo-light

Impakter informs you through the eco news site and empowers your sustainable lifestyle with its eco products marketplace.

Visit here IMPAKTER ECO for your eco products needs.

Registered Office Address

32 Lots Road, London
SW10 0QJ, United Kingdom


IMPAKTER Limited

Company number: 10806931

Impakter is a publication that is identified by the following International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is the following 2515-9569 (Printed) and 2515-9577 (online – Website).


Office Hours - Monday to Friday

9.30am - 5.00pm CEST


Email

stories [at] impakter.com

About Us

  • Team
  • Contributors
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Partners

By Audience

  • Lifestyle
  • Green Finance
  • Culture
  • Society
  • Style
  • Impact

Impakter Platforms

  • Media
  • Up
  • Index
  • Eco for Sellers
  • Impakter Pro

© 2022 IMPAKTER. All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Culture
  • Style
  • Society
  • Impact
  • ECO Products Shop – Try now!
  • INDEX – Sustainability Index
  • UP – Startup Hub
  • About
    • Partners
    • Team
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
Impakter.com uses cookies to enhance your experience when visiting the website and to serve you with advertisements that might interest you. By continuing to use this site, you agree to our use of cookies. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.