The European Commission decided, on Wednesday 15 February to refer Poland to the Court of Justice of the European Union for violations of EU law by the Polish Constitutional Tribunal.
The EU institution had sent a letter of formal notice to Warsaw following the rulings of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal of 14 July and 7 October 2021 (see EUROPE 12808/1) where it had considered provisions of the European Union treaties incompatible with the Polish Constitution. It expressly challenged the primacy of EU law and “the binding effects of rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union”.
The Commission considered that these rulings “also breach Article 19(1) TEU, which guarantees the right to effective judicial protection, by giving it an unduly restrictive interpretation (and) thereby it deprives individuals before Polish courts from the full guarantees set out in that provision”.
The Commission’s decision comes as Polish President Andrzej Duda has in recent days referred the Polish government’s draft law to the Constitutional Tribunal to fix the disciplinary system for judges, a reform required by the Commission to unlock Poland’s recovery plan money.
This new referral “shows why blocked EU funds should not be released” commented the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament in a statement. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)