Poland’s judiciary violated principles of EU law

Verdict

ECJ: Poland’s judiciary violated principles of EU law

Poland’s Constitutional Court did not want to recognize ECJ decisions. The highest European court sees this as a breach of fundamental principles of the EU.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has convicted Poland of violating key principles of EU law. By disregarding ECJ case law, the Polish Constitutional Court violated fundamental principles such as the primacy, autonomy and uniform application of EU law, the judges in Luxembourg decided. The EU Commission had taken Poland to the ECJ.

The background to the case is two rulings by the Polish Constitutional Court (Trybunal Konstytucyjny) from 2021, in which it refused to recognize decisions of Europe’s highest court as binding because, in its view, they violated the Polish constitution. The Constitutional Court found that the ECJ was exceeding its authority by interfering in the Polish judiciary.

At the time, the national conservative PiS government led the country. This restructured the Polish justice system and, according to experts, restricted the separation of powers. The ECJ had ordered certain reforms to be suspended due to concerns about the rule of law.

The ECJ has now made it clear that Poland cannot rely on its constitutional identity to evade common EU values ​​such as the rule of law, effective legal protection and judicial independence. These values ​​are legally binding for all countries that join the European Union. The judges said that member states could not abandon this.

After the liberal-conservative Donald Tusk came to power, Poland had already fully recognized the violations. The ECJ still had to examine the allegations.

The ECJ also found that the Constitutional Court did not constitute an independent and impartial court due to irregularities in the appointment of several judges and its former president.