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Will Poland stay in the European Union or will it go?
Protests broke out in the Republic of Poland over the weekend over rumors that the Central European country is planning to ditch the European Union over a court ruling that found an EU legal standard “incompatible” with Warsaw’s constitution.
The tension with the EU only increased after it was revealed Friday that Warsaw plans to build a border wall with Belarus to stop illegal migrant crossings.
Warsaw’s Constitutional Tribunal on Thursday ruled that the “process of European integration encoded in EU treaty law has reached what it called a ‘new stage’ that is incompatible with the Polish constitution, and that the latter should take precedence” when there is conflict, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“The bodies of the European Union act outside the powers conferred on them by the Republic of Poland,” Chief Justice Julia Przylebska, wrote in the ruling. She wrote that Poland “cannot function as a sovereign and democratic state” if the EU’s legal judgment stands.
Patryk Wachowiec, a research fellow at the Bingham Center for the Rule of Law told the BBC that the ruling by the court “introduces aspects of a legal Polexit because it will deepen the problem of judicial cooperation between Polish and European courts, in particular the mutual recognition of judgments.”
The EU sees any disobedience to its laws as an affront to the bloc, which could potentially lead to any member picking and choosing which laws to abide by.
Leaders in Poland have tried to downplay concerns of an impending “Polexit.”
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who brought the court challenge, blamed his political opponents for spreading false rumors.
“Our dear opposition are trying to insinuate that we want to weaken the union by leaving the EU,” he said during a summit in Budapest, according to Reuters. “This is obviously not just fake news, it is something worse—it is a lie that aims to weaken the Union.”
No National Freedom
France and Germany have both criticized the Polish court’s decision and insisted that membership in the bloc requires “complete and unconditional adherence to common values and rules.” A spokesman for the European Commission said that there is no timeline for a response to Poland. The BBC called the court ruling to effectively reject “the core principle that EU law has primacy over national legislation the “most significant challenge to the supremacy of EU law to date.”
The rumors prompted 100,000 Poles to take to the streets on Sunday to voice their support of EU membership, with demonstrators waving Polish and EU flags. Opinion polls have also shown that most citizens have no desire to leave the EU.
“I am afraid that bad times may come back,” Janusz Kuczynski, a protester, said, likely referring to the country’s collapse of communism in 1989 and the emergence of a capitalist, liberal democracy.
Similarly, the new round of protests started after the Law and Justice party changed the country’s court system after winning the election in 2015, the Journal reported.
President Andrzej Duda initially refused to seat judges who were appointed before his term and wanted them to be replaced with judges that would be favorable to him. Then they created a disciplinary chamber to keep an eye on these judges, which the EU said threatens the independence of the country’s court system. It was then that Morawiecki asked for a constitutional tribunal to determine if the country’s own law should overrule the EU on the matter.
Poland has also reported a major increase in illegal migration from Belarus. Duda issued a state of emergency that restricts movement in some areas over the crisis. The country also said it will spend $404 million to build a wall on the border with Belarus.
TREND FORECAST: As the European economy dives into recession and depression, and as the immigration problems persist, there will be growing populist, “EXIT-EU” movements throughout the Eurozone.
The Trends Journal reported in November 2020 on the massive protests that broke out in the country, (See “POLAND SET FOR MORE PROTESTS OVER ABORTION RIGHTS.”) that include protesters claiming a court’s decision and COVID-19 lockdown mandates are two examples of Warsaw skipping the democratic process and using its favorable courts to approve the measures. This in turn will also create new anti-establishment political parties.