The European Commission sued Poland yesterday in the EU’s top court over violations of EU law by the Polish Constitutional Tribunal and its case law, the Commission said in a statement.
he lawsuit is part of a wider clash between the EU and the eurosceptic and nationalist government that has been running Poland since 2015 over the rule of law, which has already resulted in the suspension of EU funds for Warsaw.
The Commission’s latest move was triggered by rulings by the Polish Constitutional Tribunal from July and October 2021 that provisions of EU Treaties were incompatible with the Polish constitution, expressly challenging the primacy of EU law over national law.
“The Constitutional Tribunal with these rulings breached the general principles of autonomy, primacy, effectiveness, uniform application of (EU) law and the binding effect of rulings of the Court of Justice of the EU,” the Commission said.
“The Commission’s objective is to ensure that the rights of Polish citizens are protected. Primacy of EU law ensures equal application of EU law across the Union,” the Commission said.
The EU executive arm, also said the Polish tribunal’s rulings breached EU laws that guarantee the right to effective judicial protection by giving it an unduly restrictive interpretation.
“Thereby it deprives individuals before Polish courts from the full guarantees set out in that provision,” it said.
The EU executive arm sent its views on the tribunal to the Polish authorities in July, but Warsaw rejected the arguments in September.