MEPs call for the primacy of EU law to be upheld

In a heated plenary debate with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Slovenian Foreign Affairs Minister Anže Logar, most MEPs condemned the contentious ruling of 7 October by the Polish Constitutional Tribunal. They called into question the independence of the court itself and warned against the Polish government’s regressive path towards totalitarianism. MEPs stressed that all EU countries voluntarily agree to common rules when they join the Union and insisted that there is no conflict between the EU legal order and the Polish Constitution.

“The ruling of the Polish Constitutional Court puts into question the foundation of the EU and is a direct challenge to the unity of the European legal order”, stated Commission President von der Leyen. 

She announced that the Commission will act, citing infringement procedures, the conditionality mechanism and other financial tools to protect the EU budget against breaches to the rule of law, as well as the Article 7 procedure, determining a serious breach of EU values.

A majority of MEPs asked the Commission to use all the tools at its disposal to, above all, defend Polish citizens and finally trigger the rule of law conditionality mechanism. They also asked for infringement procedures to be launched and for Council to finally act in accordance with Article 7.

(WBJ)