The European Court of Justice has agreed with the EU Commission in the dispute over the Polish judicial reform. The Luxembourg judges said that the Polish Constitutional Court violated EU law with two rulings from 2021. At the time, under the government of the national-conservative PiS party, the court in Warsaw questioned the primacy of EU law over national jurisprudence.
The background was a controversial judicial reform, which, among other things, influenced the appointment of judges. According to the ECJ, Poland “called into question the essential features of the EU legal order” with the 2021 rulings. National courts would have to apply EU law and could not decide for themselves to what extent they should do so.
The ECJ also ruled that the Polish Constitutional Court is still not independent. It does not meet the requirements of an independent and impartial court established by law within the meaning of EU law. The judges referred to the appointment of three constitutional judges in December 2015 and the court president in December 2016, in which the basic rules for appointment procedures were violated.
This article will continue to be updated.
