Polish Constitutional Tribunal’s Judgement Regarding Supremacy of the Polish Constitution Over EU Law: The Next-Level Debate on the “Last Word’’
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22364/jull.15.14Keywords:
European Union law, Constitution, Constitutional Court, European Court of JusticeAbstract
2021 judgement K 3/21 of Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal (Trybunał Konstytucyjny, hereinafter – the Tribunal) concerns compatibility of some norms of Treaty on European Union (TEU) with Polish constitution.
According to the Tribunal, contested norms of TEU are incompatible with relevant norms of the Polish constitution. It also suggested that Polish government institutions follow national constitutional rules in case of any conflicts.
In essence, the Tribunal ruled that Polish constitution shall supersede TEU in specific cases brought before the constitutional court.
This article aims to explore the contents of Tribunal’s judgement, analyse its legal rationale, reflect upon relationship between EU law and national constitutional laws from a broader legal and political perspective, and draw conclusions regarding the next steps.
References
Craig, P. The ECJ and ultra vires action: A conceptual analysis. Common Market Law Review, Vol. 48, issue 2, 2011, pp. 395–437. DOI: https://doi.org/10.54648/COLA2011018
Horsley, T. Reflections on the role of the Court of Justice as the “motor” of European integration: Legal limits to judicial lawmaking. Common Market Law Review, Vol. 50, issue 4, 2013, pp. 931–964. DOI: https://doi.org/10.54648/COLA2013104
Koncewicz, T. T. From Constitutional to Political Justice: The Tragic Trajectories of the Polish Constitutional Court. Verfassungsblog, 27 February 2019. Available: https://verfassungsblog.de/from-constitutional-to-political-justice-the-tragic-trajectories-of-the-polish-constitutional-court / [last viewed 29.05.2022].
Rosas, A., Armati, L. EU Constitutional Law. An Introduction. 2nd ed. Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2012.
Von Bogdandy, A., Schill, S. Overcoming Absolute Primacy: Respect for National Identity under the Lisbon Treaty. Common Market Law Review, Vol. 48, issue 5, 2011, pp. 1417–1453. DOI: https://doi.org/10.54648/COLA2011057
Bobić, A. Constitutional Pluralism Is Not Dead: An Analysis of Interactions Between Constitutional Courts of Member States and the European Court of Justice. 6 March 2019. Available: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/german-law-journal/article/constitutional-pluralism-is-not-dead-an-analysis-of-interactions-between-constitutional-courts-of-member-states-and-the-european-court-of-justice/C4E3DAF6E78AA76AEF88057CE970E2E6 [last viewed 30.05.2022].
Dafnis, T. Some thoughts on Poland’s top court ruling. CESI, 15.10.2021. Available: https://www.cesi.org/posts/some-thoughts-on-polands-top-court-ruling/ [last viewed 30.05.2022].
Consolidated Version of the Treaty on European Union [2008] OJ C115/13.
Consolidated versions of the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union [2016] OJ C202/1 (TFEU).
Constitution of the Republic of Poland. Available: https://www.sejm.gov.pl/prawo/konst/angielski/kon1.htm [last viewed 29.05.2022].
Judgment of 7 May 2021of the European Court of Human Rights in case Xero Flor w Polsch sp. zo.o. v. Poland, No. 4907/18. Available: https://www.coe.int/en/web/cdcj/caselaw-4907-18 [last viewed 29.05.2022].
Judgment of 2 March 2021 of the European Court of Justice in case C-824/18 A.B. and Others (ECLI:EU:C:2021:153). Available: https://curia.europa.eu/juris/liste.jsf?language=en&num= C-824/18 [last viewed 29.05.2022].
Judgment of 15 July 1964 of the European Court of Justice in case 6/64 Costa/Enel (ECLI:EU:C:1964:66). Available: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A61964CJ0006 [last viewed 29.05.2022].
Judgment of the Contitutional Court of the Republic of Latvija 0f 7 April 2009 in case No. 2008-35-01. Latvijas Vēstnesis, No. 56, 09.04.2009.
Judgement of the German Federal Constitutional Court in cases 2 BvR 2134/92, 2 BvR 2159/92. Available: https://iow.eui.eu/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2013/04/06-Von-Bogdandy-German-Federal-Constitutional-Court.pdf [last viewed 29.05.2022].
Judgment of Czech Republic Constitutional Court Pl. ÚS 5/12 of 31 January 2012. Available: https://www.usoud.cz/fileadmin/user_upload/ustavni_soud_www/Decisions/pdf/Pl%20US%205-12.pdf [last viewed 30.05.2022].
Judgment of the Supreme Court by Denmark 6 December 2016 case 15/2014. Available: https://europeanlawblog.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Judgment-15-2014-Danish-Constitutional-Court-DI-Final-Judgment.pdf [last viewed 30.05.2022].
European Parliament resolution of 21 October 2021 on the rule of law crisis in Poland and the primacy of EU law. Available: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2021-0439_EN.html [last viewed 30.05.2022].
Opinion of the Constitutional Law Committee on Latvia’s constitutional foundations and the inviolable constitutional core. Riga, 17 September 2012. Latvijas Vēstnesis (Official Journal), 2012, pp. 27. and further. Available: http://blogi.lu.lv/tzpi/files/2017/03/17092012_Viedoklis_2.pdf [last viewed 29.05.2022].
The EU as a community of law. Overview of the role of law in the Union. European Parliament, March 2017. Available: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2017/599364/EPRS_BRI(2017)599364_EN.pdf [last viewed 29.05.2022].
Bussels vows to punish Poland for challenging supremacy of EU law. Financial Times, 19 October 2021. Available: https://www.ft.com/content/fb7c2484-8923-446c-8328-51ca76175412 [last viewed 30.05.2022].
Merkel says EU must resolve Polish problem in talks, not courts. Reuter, 15 October 2021. Available: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-needs-resolve-differences-talks-rather-than-courts-merkel-says-2021-10-15/ [last viewed 30.05.2022].
National Courts Cannot Override CJEU Judgments. A Joint Statement in Defense of the EU Legal Order. Verfassungsblog, 26 May 2020. Available: https://verfassungsblog.de/national-courts-cannot-override-cjeu-judgments/ [last viewed 30.05.2022].
Speech by the President of the Constitutional Court Ineta Ziemele at the conference “Constitutional EUdentity 2019 unity in diversity – common and particular values”. 8 March 2019. Available: https://www.satv.tiesa.gov.lv/en/runas-un-raksti/can-constitutional-courts-delimit-european-identity/ [last viewed 30.05.2022].
Headnotes to the Judgment of the Second Senate of 5 May 2020. Available: https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Entscheidungen/EN/2020/05/rs20200505_2bvr085915en.html [last viewed 30.05.2022].
Statement by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in the European Parliament. Available: https://www.gov.pl/web/primeminister/statement-by-prime-minister-mateusz-morawiecki-in-the-european-parliament [last viewed 29.05.2022].
Assessment of the conformity to the Polish Constitution of selected provisions of the Treaty on European Union. Available: https://trybunal.gov.pl/en/hearings/judgments/art/11662-ocena-zgodnosci-z-konstytucja-rp-wybranych-przepisow-traktatu-o-unii-europejskiej [last viewed 29.05.2022].
Constitutional Tribunal on the status of EU law: The Polish government got all the answers it needed from a court it controls. Available: https://europeanlawblog.eu/2021/10/21/polands-constitutional-tribunal-on-the-status-of-eu-law-the-polish-government-got-all-the-answers-it-needed-from-a-court-it-controls/ [last viewed 29.05.2022].
Press release of the Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal which explains the legal reasoning of the judgement. Available: https://trybunal.gov.pl/en/news/press-releases/after-the-hearing/art/11664-ocena-zgodnosci-z-konstytucja-rp-wybranych-przepisow-traktatu-o-unii-europejskiej [last viewed 29.05.2022].
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
