The European Commission is suing Poland over court rulings made by the country's Constitutional Tribunal which are in violation of EU law.
The Commission ruled in July and October 2021 that provisions of the EU Treaties are incompatible with the Polish constitution. The Commission stated, "The Constitutional Tribunal with these rulings breached the general principles of autonomy, primacy, effectiveness, uniform application of Union law and the binding effect of rulings of the Court of Justice of the EU."
Not only did the Polish Constitutional Tribunal reject the legality upon which the EU was built, but it also appointed several justices in violation of the Polish constitution.
The Commission said that its objective is to protect the rights of Polish citizens so that they can enjoy the EU benefits that all other EU citizens enjoy. EU law guarantees its citizens equal application of EU law across the union.
The Constitutional Tribunal is charged with checking if laws passed by Parliament and signed by the president into law are compatible with the Polish constitution.
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The Tribunal's changes made by the nationalist and eurosceptic Law & Justice Party (PiS) no longer meet the requirements of an independent and impartial tribunal. This bitter row between the EU and the PiS government has resulted in the partial suspension of EU funds for Warsaw.
When the EU tried to resolve the issue with Poland last year, Warsaw rejected its reasoning. The Commission then decided to refer Poland to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Since the ruling, Poland has ignored orders made by the EU to abolish a disciplinary chamber for judges on the Supreme Court in response to the fine that was placed on Warsaw by the Court of Justice of the European Union.
