Poland Escalates Fight With Europe Over the Rule of Law

Poland Escalates Fight With Europe Over the Rule of Law

Steven Erlanger and Monika Pronczuk


Hungary and Poland are fighting with Brussels over values and rule of law. So, after a fashion, is Germany.

Flags for Poland and the European Union on display before a ceremony last summer in Warsaw.Credit…Slawomir Kaminski/Agencja Gazeta, via Reuters

BRUSSELS — Poland has escalated a six-year struggle with the European Union over the rule of law after the country’s constitutional court ruled it did not have to comply with an order from the bloc’s supreme court over its oversight of judges.

The decision by the Polish court on Wednesday followed an order by the top E.U. court, the European Court of Justice, to suspend a disciplinary “chamber” that critics say has been used by the ruling Law and Justice party to intimidate judges not to its liking. Poland’s top court said that the European court, which is based in Luxembourg, did not have the power to impose such orders under Poland’s Constitution.

On Thursday, the European Court of Justice said that the system of overseeing and disciplining judges in Poland, set up by the ruling party, was not compatible with E.U. law and that its impartiality and independence from political interference cannot be guaranteed.

If Poland does not comply with the E.U. ruling, the European Commission, the bloc’s executive, can ask the court to impose daily fines. The Commission considers Poland’s actions to be a violation of the treaties that bind the bloc together and that guarantee an independent judiciary.

Poland’s government has argued that the disciplinary chamber, which was set up in 2018, was necessary to purge a corrupt system that includes Communist-era holdovers.

The Supreme Court in Warsaw.Credit…Kacper Pempel/Reuters

The head of Poland’s parliamentary commission for justice, Marek Ast, criticized the European court’s ruling, saying that the organization of justice systems should be the responsibility of E.U. member states. “The standards that E.C.J. is drawing from the E.U. treaties are not in line with Poland’s Constitution,” he said, referring to the court.

Zbigniew Ziobro, Poland’s justice minister, told reporters that the court’s decision was a political one that segregated states “into better and worse ones.”

In another battle over the rule of law, the Commission said on Thursday that it was starting separate legal proceedings against Poland and Hungary over alleged violations of the rights of L.G.B.T.Q. people. The Commission acted in response to Hungary’s recent law banning the depiction or promotion of homosexuality to those under 18 and to Poland’s so-called L.G.B.T.-ideology free zones.


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