The European Commission has launched legal proceedings against Poland at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for what it claims are "violations of EU law by the Polish Constitutional Tribunal". The charges stem from two rulings issued by the Constitutional Tribunal (TK) — a body widely seen as being under the influence of Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party — that found parts of EU law to be inconsistent with the Polish constitution. Those rulings "directly challenged the primacy of EU law and the provisions of the EU treaties", said the European Commission. In the first, passed in July 2021, the TK ruled that interim orders issued against Poland by the CJEU are unconstitutional. That effectively gave the green light for the government to ignore such orders. The second, issued in October 2021, again found parts of European law to be inconsistent with the Polish constitution, which the TK ruled takes precedence over them. Many experts warned at the time that it was a step towards the effective departure of Poland from the EU legal order. In December 2021, the European Commission launched infringement proceedings against Poland over those two TK judgements. It said that the Polish constitutional court had "disregarded its obligations under EU law". The commission also expressed at the time "serious doubts on the independence and impartiality" of the TK, which it "considers no longer meets the requirements of a tribunal previously established by law". Rulings by both Polish and European courts have found that the TK — whose chief justice, Julia Przyłębska, is a close associate of PiS Chairman Jarosław Kaczyński and which contains illegitimately appointed judges — in its current form is not a lawfully established body. In a statement Wednesday, the commission noted that, in its dialogue with Poland since December 2021, "the Polish reply does not address the commission's concerns", which is why it has now referred the case to the CJEU. The commission argues that the TK's two 2021 rulings constitute a breach of Article 19(1) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), which guarantees the right to effective judicial protection. "Primacy of EU law ensures equal application of EU law across the union," said the commission. "[Our] objective is to ensure that the rights of Polish citizens are protected and that they can enjoy the benefits of the EU in the same way as all EU citizens." The commission also reiterated its belief that "the Constitutional Tribunal no longer meets the requirements of an independent and impartial tribunal previously established by law...due to the irregularities in the appointment procedures of three judges and in the selection of its president". Wednesday's development marks the latest in a long-running series of clashes between Warsaw and Brussels since PiS came to power in late 2015. The European Commission has repeatedly accused Poland of violating the rule of law, and the CJEU has issued a number of rulings against it. That has resulted in Poland having to pay millions of euros in fines and seeing billions of euros in EU funds frozen until the commission's concerns are addressed. The Polish government, however, denies that it has violated the rule of law and accuses Brussels of targetting it for political reasons because it has challenged the EU's left-liberal mainstream. Nevertheless, in an effort to meet Brussels' demands and unlock frozen funds, Poland's parliament this month passed a law undoing some of the government's judicial reforms. However, President Andrzej Duda subsequently referred it for assessment by the TK — the very body whose legitimacy is being questioned by the commission. Poland introduced a law in 2019 that prevents Polish courts from applying EU law in certain areas and from referring legal questions to the ECJ. On Monday, the Luxembourg-based ECJ said Poland's ruling Law and Justice Party's judicial reforms were damaging the independence of judges and undermining the rule of law. The court also said publishing online declarations on judges' membership in associations, nonprofit foundations or political parties violated their right to privacy and could be used to sway them. The rift between Brussels and Warsaw over Poland being accused of defying the EU's rule of law has been a longstanding battle. The 27-member bloc has withheld allocating billions of euros to Poland from the EU budget until Warsaw pledges to abide by the bloc's rules, and the ECJ also slapped a 1 million euro ($1.07 million) daily fine on the country, which was later reduced to 500,000 euros ($535,640) in April, over its refusal to comply with the EU's interim measures to change its judicial reforms. On Monday, the ECJ said Poland is "obligated to make the daily penalty payments". The court's announcement also comes several months before Poland heads to the polls. Over the weekend, large crowds protested in Krakow and other cities across the nation of 38 million people against the government's policies. — Agencies
