The Court of Justice of the European Union (TSUE) ruled that the Polish Constitutional Tribunal (TK), by failing to respect TSUE case law, violated several fundamental principles of EU law. It also found that the TK does not meet the requirements of an independent and impartial court established by law. TSUE displayed hypocrisy, as many European Union member states, including Germany, do not apply an absolute primacy of EU law over national law.
In 2023, the European Commission referred Poland to the Court of Justice of the European Union (TSUE) after the TK issued two judgments indicating the primacy of national law over EU law. Belgium and the Netherlands joined the Commission’s action. In its application, the Commission also sought a declaration that the TK does not meet the requirements of an independent and impartial court established by law.
The judgment in the case was delivered on Thursday morning. TSUE held that, by failing to respect TSUE case law, the Polish Constitutional Tribunal (TK) violated several fundamental principles of EU law.
Moreover, it also stated that the TK does not meet the requirements of an independent and impartial court established by law due to irregularities in the appointment of three of its members and its president. The judgment was delivered amid what the governing camp has planned as a “takeover of the Tribunal,” an issue that opposition politicians have been speaking about for some time.
It is worth noting that TSUE displayed hypocrisy, as many European Union member states, including Germany, do not apply an absolute primacy of EU law over national law. Judgments of the European court can be reviewed there and later disregarded.
In its latest report, the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) stated: the Republic of Poland, like other European Union member states, has not transferred to EU bodies areas concerning the system of the state, including matters relating to the organization of the administration of justice of the member states, which is consistently confirmed by the case law of the Constitutional Tribunal (TK). Issues concerning the organization and structure of the judiciary fall within the exclusive competence of each EU member state.
Similarly – albeit with certain exceptions – the situation is the same in Italy, Denmark, the Czech Republic, and France. This was written about by Łukasz Bernaciński, a member of the management board of Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture (Ordo Iuris). “TSUE is once again undermining Poland’s constitutional order and acting ultra vires! The TSUE judgment in case C-448/23 is yet another example of the Court systematically exceeding the limits of the competences conferred on the Union by the Treaties. Under the pretext of enforcing Article 19(1) TEU, the Court carried out a de facto systemic review of a national constitutional court – its composition, the method of appointing judges, and its position within the domestic constitutional order. Such interference finds no basis in the principle of conferral (Article 5(2) TEU) or in any provision of primary law,” stated Judge Kamila Borszowska-Moszowska of the Regional Court, commenting on today’s ruling.