By Canadian Press

Poland: Court rules that some EU rules clash with Polish law

Oct 7, 2021 | 9:35 AM

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s constitutional court has ruled that some European Union laws are in conflict with Poland’s Constitution.

The Constitutional Tribunal ruled Thursday that some provisions of the EU treaties and some EU court rulings go against Poland’s highest law. Two judges dissented from the majority opinion.

The court said the country’s EU membership and signing of the treaties were not tantamount to giving the EU courts supreme legal authority and did not mean that Poland was shifting its sovereignty to the EU.

The ruling followed months of court proceedings in which representatives of Poland’s government, president and parliament argued that Poland’s Constitution comes before EU law and that rulings by the Court of Justice of the EU are sometimes in conflict with Poland’s legal order.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

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WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s constitutional court is to rule Thursday in a key case over whether Polish or European Union law has primacy in the EU member country.

The ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal is expected to define the future of Poland’s already troubled relationship with the 27-member bloc in the key area of law and justice.

The expected verdict comes after months of court proceedings in which representatives of the government, the president and the parliament argued that Poland’s Constitution comes before EU law and that rulings by the Court of Justice of the EU are sometimes in conflict with Poland’s legal order.

During proceedings Thursday, representatives of the office of the human rights commissioner argued that Poland agreed to respect the EU legal order when it joined the bloc in 2004, and that questioning that order would lower the standards of legal protection of citizens in Poland.

But a deputy foreign minister, Pawel Jablonski, insisted that a ruling giving primacy to Poland’s Constitution would not go against the EU membership treaties. He said that it would instead give them a new definition in a situation where, he said, top courts in many member countries have not followed the EU court’s rulings.

Poland’s government insists that the justice system and the judiciary are the sole purview of EU member nations and not the EU, and has ignored a number of the EU court’s rulings.

The court opened the case in July on a motion earlier this year from Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. He asked for the review after the EU court ruled that the bloc’s law takes precedence over Poland’s law. The verdict regarded the procedure of judicial appointments under Poland’s current right-wing government.

The EU court’s decision came amid a larger dispute over deep changes the governing Law and Justice party initiated to the Polish court system; the EU views the changes as an erosion of democratic checks and balances.

The European Parliament adopted a resolution last month calling on Morawiecki to cancel the case, stressing the “fundamental nature of primacy of EU law as a cornerstone principle of EU law.”

Poland’s policies in the area of law and the judiciary have drawn out debates with the EU Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, over the payment of billions of euros to the country from the EU pandemic recovery fund.

The Constitutional Tribunal itself is seen by the EU as illegitimate due to the political influence of Poland’s governing party on the appointment of some of its judges. Many of them are government loyalists — including the court’s president, Judge Julia Przylebska, who is heading the panel in the current case.

Monika Scislowska, The Associated Press