In a judgment handed down on Thursday 18 December (case C-448/23), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) found that the Polish Constitutional Court had failed to comply with several fundamental principles of EU law in two judgments handed down in 2021 by the Polish court.
In February 2023 (see EUROPE 13122/24), the European Commission brought an action for failure to fulfil obligations against Poland before the Court of Justice of the EU, considering that two judgments of the Polish Constitutional Court of July and October 2021 (see EUROPE 12808/1) infringed several principles of EU law (effective judicial protection, autonomy, primacy and uniform application, binding effect of the case law of the CJEU).
These two judgments rule out the jurisdiction conferred by the CJEU on national courts to review the legality of procedures for appointing magistrates and to rule on whether those procedures are defective. They also rejected the interim measures imposed by the CJEU relating to the organisation and jurisdiction of the Polish courts (case C-791/19 R - see EUROPE 12464/27).
In its appeal, the Commission also criticises irregularities in the appointment of three judges and the President of the Polish Constitutional Court claiming that this court does not constitute an independent and impartial tribunal.
In its ruling, the CJEU upheld the Commission’s appeal in its entirety. In its view, the two judgments at issue by the Polish Constitutional Court effectively run counter to the principle of judicial protection, in particular by excluding the jurisdiction of national courts.
They also call into question the essential characteristics of the EU legal order by preventing the Polish public authorities from applying EU primary law.
According to the CJEU, Poland cannot invoke its constitutional identity to evade common values (Article 2 TEU) such as the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. These values underpin the very identity of the European Union, which Poland freely joined. And after accession, these values take the form of legally binding obligations, from which the Member States cannot free themselves, emphasises the European judge.
Furthermore, national courts cannot unilaterally determine the scope and limits of the powers attributed to the EU. These questions, which involve an interpretation of EU law, fall exclusively within the jurisdiction of the EU courts, the CJEU points out.
Any doubts on the part of national courts as to the extent of the EU’s competences or the validity of an EU act, on the grounds that it goes beyond the sphere of competence of the Union or fails to respect the requirement for the EU to respect the national identities of the Member States, can only be resolved in the context of a dialogue with the CJEU (Article 4 TEU), by means of a preliminary ruling procedure.
Finally, the European Court concluded that the appointment of the three judges of the Polish Constitutional Court was vitiated by irregularities. As a result, it believes that the Polish court does not meet the requirements of an independent and impartial tribunal.
Link to the judgment of the Court of Justice: https://aeur.eu/f/k31 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)