Poland accuses EU of ‘attack on sovereignty’ following Brussels legal initiative against country (photos)

In comments on national television, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the EU decision reflects a tendency towards ‘bureaucratic centralization’ and should be stopped.

While the deputy. Polish Justice Minister Sebastian Kaleta called the EU move ‘an attack on Poland’s constitution and sovereignty’.

The decision on legal action escalates the protracted conflict between Brussels and Warsaw over centralization in the bloc and what the EU calls “deviations from the bloc’s democratic norms”.

In October the Polish constitutional court ruled the supremacy of national laws over those of the EU in cases where the two are in conflict.

In November, the same court ruled that the European constitution did not comply with the country’s constitution.

When nations accede to the European Union, as Poland did in 2004, they must bring their legislation into line with the rules of the bloc and accept the European Court of Justice as the supreme arbiter of the rules.

With the launch of the legal action, the European Commission said that local courts are challenging the supremacy of European law.

EU Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said the proceedings target Poles for violating the supremacy of European law by deciding that some treaties are incompatible with Polish law.

Brussels has currently banned the coronavirus recovery funding package for Poland following the debates.

Former Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, of the ruling Law and Justice party, said: “This is no longer a legal debate, it is an attack on the Polish constitution and the foundations of the Polish state.”

Prime Minister Morawiecki said he strongly opposed the EU move, adding that this highlighted the lack of understanding of the differences between the union and national competencies.

“More and more EU countries are realizing that competencies must have limits – on what the EU can decide, and on what member states can decide,” he said.

Although there are no options for excluding Poland from the union, the country could be hit with daily fines and disenfranchisement.

Poland and Hungary have often been accused recently of “rejecting the democratic norms” of the bloc. Countries have threatened to block European businesses.

Gentiloni said he was confident the debate with Warsaw and Budapest would not degenerate into a cycle of revenge but warned that “nothing can be ruled out”.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the EU decision reflects a tendency towards ‘bureaucratic centralization’ and should be stopped.