Judgment of the CJEU in the case of the Constitutional Tribunal. Poland has violated EU law
The Court of Justice of the EU ruled that the Constitutional Tribunal had violated EU law by not respecting the judgments of the CJEU, and that the Constitutional Tribunal did not meet the requirements of an independent and impartial court, previously established by law, due to irregularities in the appointment of three of its members and the president. The European Commission's complaint in the case in which the TUSE ruled on Thursday was addressed in 2023, so it concerns the appointment of the then president of the Constitutional Tribunal, Julia Przyłębska, to this function.
The rest of the text is below the video:
Read also: A landmark judgment of the CJEU on same-sex marriage. The case of a Polish wedding in Germany
“The CJEU judgment is clear: the Polish Constitutional Tribunal has violated several fundamental principles of EU law and does not meet the requirements of an independent and impartial court. We will rebuild the rule of law. It is not a choice – it is a necessity,” Szłapka wrote on the X platform after the EU tribunal's judgment.
The complaint was filed in 2023.
The complaint on which the CJEU ruled on Thursday was sent by the European Commission in 2023 after the Constitutional Tribunal issued two judgments questioning the primacy of EU law over national law in the Community. Belgium and the Netherlands joined the Commission's complaint.
In the complaint, the EC also demanded a declaration that the Constitutional Tribunal does not meet the requirements of an independent and impartial court previously established under the Act, due to irregularities in the procedures for appointing three judges in December 2015 and in the procedure for appointing Julia Przyłębska as the president of the Constitutional Tribunal in December 2016.
This is not the first such verdict
The Polish tribunal issued judgments questioning the primacy of EU law on July 14 and October 7, 2021. This was a consequence of changes in the Polish judiciary carried out by the then government of Law and Justice and questioned by the European Commission and then the CJEU.
The judgment of July 14, 2021 concerned the application of interim measures by the CJEU regarding the Polish judiciary. The Constitutional Tribunal found unconstitutional the provision in the EU treaty on the basis of which the CJEU ordered, as a safeguard, the suspension of the operation of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court until the final judgment is issued by the tribunal in Luxembourg. The CJEU later imposed daily fines on Poland for failing to comply with this order.
The judgment of October 7, 2021 answered the question of the then Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who wanted a comprehensive resolution of the issue of the conflict of European law norms with the Polish constitution. The Constitutional Tribunal stated that European provisions authorizing national courts to disregard constitutional provisions or to adjudicate on the basis of repealed norms are inconsistent with the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. “EU treaties – as acts of international law – have priority over national law of a statutory nature, but they cannot precede the constitution,” the Constitutional Tribunal stated.
“The basis of the Union's identity”
In Thursday's judgment, the Court of Justice of the EU fully accepted the European Commission's complaint.
The CJEU emphasized that Poland cannot invoke its constitutional identity to avoid respecting the common values enshrined in Art. 2 of the EU Treaty, such as the rule of law, effective judicial protection and the independence of the judiciary, because these values ”constitute the basis of the very identity of the Union, which Poland joined voluntarily.”
