The EU Commission has decided to open an infringement procedure against Poland for the decisions taken by its Constitutional Court: among other things, explained the EU commissioner for the economy Paolo Gentiloni, they violate the principle of the primacy of EU law on that of individual countries. The Polish Constitutional Court, in fact, contested the primacy of EU law over national laws and jurisprudence. It is “an attack on the Polish Constitution and our sovereignty”, is the Warsaw reaction.
The infringement procedure against Poland
Gentiloni explained that the Commission has decided to open the infringement procedure due to the “serious concerns” raised by the decisions of the Polish Constitutional Court, accused of having violated the provisions of the EU Treaty with two of its decisions. “We believe that the Polish Constitutional Court – said the commissioner – no longer meets the requirements of an independent and impartial court”, as enshrined in European law and required by the EU Treaty. The EU, added Gentiloni, “is a community of values based on law and the rights of Europeans must be protected no matter where they live. Poland now has two months to reply to the letter “sent to it by Brussels with a request to comply with EU law.” Today we are initiating an infringement procedure against Poland for violations of EU law by the his Constitutional Court. We have tried to dialogue but the situation does not improve. The foundations of the EU legal order must be respected, in particular the primacy of EU law “, EU Commissioner Didier Reynders also reiterated via Twitter.
Warsaw’s reaction: “Attack on our sovereignty”
The reaction from Poland was not long in coming. The opening of the infringement procedure shows that “the tendency to develop bureaucratic centralism on the part of Brussels is unfortunately going on and that it must be stopped”, said Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. The initiation of the procedure is “an attack on the Polish Constitution and our sovereignty”, wrote Sebastian Kaleta, Polish Deputy Minister of Justice, on Twitter. In the tweet Kaleta also refers to the sentence of the last few hours of the Court of Justice of the EU in a case involving Romania, which states that by virtue of the primacy of EU law, the national judge may not apply a verdict of the Constitutional Court if contrary to European law. According to Kaleta, the ruling of the EU Court is part of “a planned action”, on the basis of which the European Commission initiated the infringement procedure, thus wishing to “subordinate the Constitutional Court in Poland to EU law”.
Source-tg24.sky.it