Court Declares Polish Constitution Has Primacy Over EU Laws

The European Commission (EC) is mulling its next steps following a ruling by Poland's Constitutional Court on how Poland regards EU law, the Commission's President Ursula von der Leyen said, Doris Heinmann and Michel Winde reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

Photo Insert: The entrance of Poland's Constitutional Court.

"I am deeply concerned by yesterday's ruling of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal," von der Leyen said in a statement.

"I have instructed the Commission's services to analyse it thoroughly and swiftly," she said, adding that further steps would be taken based on the outcome. Poland's Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday that certain elements of EU law violate the Polish constitution. It thus gave national law precedence over EU law.

The decision was welcomed by the government but met with skepticism in Brussels. Von der Leyen emphasized, "EU law has primacy over national law, including constitutional provisions." This was what member states agreed to when joining the European Union (EU), she added.

The ruling further fuels the conflict between the EU Commission and Warsaw over the reform of the Polish judicial system. Poland's national conservative PiS government has been restructuring the judiciary for years.

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Critics accuse it of putting pressure on judges. The European Commission has already opened several proceedings for violations of EU law against Warsaw due to the reforms and has filed lawsuits with the European Court of Justice.

Meanwhile, Polish opposition leader and former European Council president Donald Tusk called for protests against the ruling.

"I call on everyone who wants to defend a European Poland to come to Castle Square in Warsaw on Sunday at 6 pm [1600 GMT]," he tweeted on Thursday evening.

"Only together can we stop them," he said. Tusk is acting leader of Poland's main opposition party, the liberal-conservative Civic Platform.s

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