Demonstration against the decision of the Polish Constitutional Court in Krakow, Poland, on 10 October.
Photo: Dariusz Grochal / Shutterstock
Uldis Šmits, “Latvijas Avīze”, JSC “Latvijas Mediji”
In Poland, a relatively high proportion of citizens support their country’s membership of the European Union, as evidenced by opinion polls. However, a possible analogue of brexite analogue (Polexit) is often referred to these days, and there is a reason for such a slight exaggeration.
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Namely, the course of the ultra-conservative partners of the ruling party “Law and Justice” openly confronted with the confrontation with the EU institutions, within which the next red line has just been broken.
Court against court
Last week, the Polish Constitutional Court ruled that certain articles of the EU framework treaties, as interpreted by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), did not comply with national law, and the EU institutions exceeded their powers in some cases. It follows from this verdict that official Warsaw may not recognize the priority of EU law.
Conditional parallels can be drawn with the decision of the German Constitutional Court last May against the mass purchase of debt securities by the European Central Bank, which allegedly did not comply with the ECB’s mandate, although the EU Court of Justice found no violation.
If we recall, in 2017 the European Commission (EC) activated Article 7 of the EU Treaty for the first time and launched the so-called infringement procedure against Warsaw directly in connection with the Polish government’s disputed judicial reforms, as inspections revealed systemic threats to judicial independence and in a democratic system, the fundamental principle of the separation of powers.
It is not for nothing that special objections were raised in Brussels by the changed procedure for the appointment and disciplinary supervision of judges of the Constitutional Court. According to the Polish opposition, the current composition of the court, including its chairman, can be called almost the law and justice party’s trustees. Therefore, already in March this year, when the Prime Minister Mateusz Moravecki filed a lawsuit to assess the compatibility of the Treaty on European Union with the Polish Constitution, there was not too much doubt what the decision would be. Its announcement has been postponed four times in the context of various disputes between Warsaw and Brussels.
Money as a tool
This decision was also awaited by the European Commission, which still considers that the allocation of EU Recovery Fund money is subject to compliance with certain legality criteria. Therefore, for the time being, the approval of the national recovery plans of Poland as well as Hungary is stuck.
EU Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni pointed this out last month. But Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Zjobro of the coalition party Solidarity Poland, which holds a particularly “strong line”, told a news conference that the EC’s position was “an expression of aggression and an attempt to limit our sovereignty”. Government spokesman Peter Miller described the clash of two irreconcilable philosophies embodied by Brussels bureaucrats seeking to create a “United States of Europe” and Warsaw defending a “community of sovereign states”. On the other hand, Prime Minister Moravecki expressed confidence that sooner or later Poland will get the money to which it is fully entitled, but will not beg and is able to do quite well without the funds of the Recovery Fund.
The plan envisages allocating almost € 24 billion in subsidies to Poland, but when combined with billions in soft loans, the benefits would amount to about a tenth of the country’s gross domestic product. Last year, Poland, along with Hungary, blocked for a long time the approval of the EU’s multiannual budget and the NextGenerationEU aid package, objecting to the newly introduced mechanism, which effectively links European funding to the rule of law.
A compromise was finally reached that the mechanism could only be triggered if the CJEU recognized the legitimacy of such a link. Significant coincidence: On 11 October, the CJEU in Luxembourg opened proceedings in Warsaw and Budapest in this regard. The review can take up to six months. In the meantime, Brussels promises to use “all the tools at its disposal”, as EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reinders said, and to act quickly.
Or Tusk will bring something
Donald Tusk also wants to do the same, returning to Polish politics in the summer and once again leading the Civic Platform, the largest opposition party. However, he will need to bring together a much wider circle of not-too-cohesive opposition to achieve a change of course in Warsaw.
According to a survey published by the weekly Wprost, 48% of respondents consider his prospects to be good, while 50.5% disagree. On Sunday, in response to Tusk’s call for demonstrations with the slogans “We are Europe” and “We remain”, many people took part in Poland and elsewhere in the world where Polish communities live, but it was more a matter of mobilizing NGOs and civil society.
It is difficult to predict whether the unity of the ranks will be maintained until 2023, when the parliamentary elections will take place. In addition, the power party led by Yaroslav Kaczynski, which categorically rejects the covert desire to withdraw from the EU, also has the capacity to mobilize, but still comes up with its own understanding of European values, which is not lacking in support.
For example, in France, where the presidential elections will take place in the spring, the decision of the Polish Constitutional Court was not welcomed by Marina Lepen alone. Arno Montebur, a former minister in the socialist government and a potential presidential candidate, also called for Warsaw to follow suit. Former EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, who hopes to be nominated from the right-wing Republican Party, will surprise many in his campaign to defend “legal sovereignty”. It is a very lucrative pre-election topic, particularly popular with politicians called populists or Eurosceptics. Recently, they have begun to lose ground, as has happened in Germany, Italy and, more recently, the Czech Republic. Which does not mean the end of the debate at all.
Urzula fon the Leiena, President of the European Commission, 8 October: “I am deeply concerned about the ruling of the Polish Constitutional Court yesterday. /../ Both EU citizens and companies operating in Poland need legal certainty that EU rules, including rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union, are fully applicable in Poland. /../
All decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union are binding on all the authorities of the Member States, including national courts. EU law takes precedence over national law, including constitutional provisions. That is what all EU Member States are committed to as they become part of the European Union. To ensure this, we will use all the powers we have under the treaties. “
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