WARSAW, Dec 18 (Reuters) – Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal infringed fundamental principles of European law and cannot be considered independent and impartial because of irregularities in the appointment of judges, the European Union’s top court ruled on Thursday.
During its two terms in government from 2015 to 2023, the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party introduced judicial reforms which Brussels said undermined the rule of law and which critics blamed for chaos in the judiciary.
The Constitutional Tribunal, which rules on the validity of laws and is dominated by judges appointed under PiS, issued rulings stating that Poland’s constitution had primacy over EU law, undermining a key principle of the Union.
“The Court … ruled that Poland had failed to fulfil its obligations because (the tribunal) had infringed the principle of effective judicial protection and disregarded the primacy, autonomy, effectiveness and uniform application of EU law,” the Court of Justice of the European Union said in a statement.
It said there had been “serious irregularities” in the appointment of the tribunal’s president and three judges calling into question its status “as an independent and impartial tribunal established by law within the meaning of EU law”.
Brussels took Poland to court over the rulings, and the current pro-European government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk does not recognise them.
But the government has so far failed in its efforts to roll back the changes, blocked by two subsequent nationalist presidents who support the PiS overhaul of courts.
Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek wrote on social media platform X that the judgment obliged the state to take action, and the government was prepared to act.
The tribunal itself said the judgment had no impact on its functioning and that the European court had no authority over it.
“It should be emphasised that the supreme law in Poland is the constitution, not the decisions of foreign bodies.
Poland did not waive this right when it joined the EU. It did not transfer jurisdiction over the judiciary … to EU bodies,” it said in a statement.
(Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Timothy Heritage and Alison Williams)
