In Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk and other cities, an estimated tens of thousands of Poles are demonstrating against the course of the conservative PiS government. They carry pro-European banners and protest against an important ruling by the Polish Constitutional Court.
The Court ruled Thursday that certain treaties of the European Union and certain judgments of the EU courts are contrary to the Polish Constitution. As a result, national law took precedence over European law.
EU countries reacted with shock to the ruling. This is diametrically opposed to a core principle of the EU: judgments of the European Court in Luxembourg are binding and therefore take precedence over national case law.
Donald Tusk
Former President of the European Council and current Polish opposition leader Donald Tusk has called for today’s protests. He accuses the right-wing ruling party PiS of wanting to lead the country out of the European Union. Tusk is the acting chairman of Poland’s largest opposition party, the liberal-conservative Civic Platform.
PiS (Law and Justice) has been arguing with the European Commission for years about what the party sees as European interference in the Polish legal system. The European Court in Luxembourg has repeatedly reprimanded Poland for reforms that endanger the independent judiciary.
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