The European Commission considers that Poland’s ruling challenging the rule of European law “violates general principles” of the EU.
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The European Commission launched an infringement procedure against Poland on Wednesday 22 December. This decision was taken following the judgment rendered in October by the Constitutional Court of this country challenging the primacy of European law. “We consider that this case law violated the general principles of autonomy, primacy, efficiency and uniform application of Union law, and the binding judgments of the Court of Justice” of the EU, justified the European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni.
In response to this ruling, Poland called the lawsuit a “bureaucratic centralism” from the European Union.
The European executive, guardian of the treaties, has sent a letter to the Polish government, which has two months to respond. The infringement procedure can lead to a referral to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) and can go as far as financial sanctions. The EU has been in a standoff for several years with the nationalist conservative government in power in Warsaw over its judicial reforms, accused of undermining the independence of judges.
Poland has been condemned several times by the CJEU. The conflict escalated with a July ruling by the Polish Constitutional Court, under the influence of the ruling party, declaring the CJEU’s rulings on Polish judicial reforms unconstitutional. Tensions increased further on October 7, when the Polish Constitutional Court, seized by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, challenged the supremacy of European law by ruling on certain articles of EU treaties “incompatible” with the country’s Constitution.