Tuesday, October 19, 2021

'Poland will not be intimidated': Polish PM to the EU


 During his speech in the European Parliament, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki taught the audience a quick lesson in the principles of the rule of law and democracy. 

“The guiding principle that we profess in Poland and which is the basis of the EU is the principle of democracy. We cannot remain silent when we are under attack. The rules of the game must be the same for everyone. It is everyone's responsibility to obey them. This is the rule of law,” the head of the Polish government said to the gathered audience.

"If I heard myself that the Constitutional Tribunal in another country had annulled the EU treaties, I would probably be surprised by it, but most of all I would try to check what the tribunal really said. And for this purpose, I asked for the floor in today's debate to present to you what is the real subject of the dispute, i.e. not inventing fairy tales about Polexit for political reasons or lying about the alleged violation of the rule of law"- said the Prime Minister, noting that he wanted to present the facts.

To do this, it's best to present a few quotes directly:

1. In the national legal order, the primacy of Union law does not apply to the provisions of the Constitution. It is the constitution that sits at the top of the internal legal system.

2. The principle of the primacy of Community law may not, in the national legal order, undermine the supreme power of the constitution.

3. The Constitutional Court may examine the ultra vires condition, that is to say whether the actions of the institutions of the Union infringe the principle of conferral where the institutions, bodies, bodies and agencies of the Union have exceeded their powers in a manner that infringes that principle. As a result of such a decision, the ultra vires acts do not apply in the territory of the Member State.

4. The constitution prohibits the conferral of competences to the extent that would mean that the state cannot be considered a sovereign and democratic country.

I will skip the next few quotes, so as not to take too much of your time, but I will move on to the last two

"The Constitution is the highest law of Poland, in relation to all international agreements that are binding on it, including agreements on conferral of competences in certain matters, the constitution enjoys the priority of validity and application on the territory of Poland."

And one more quote:

"The delegation of competences to the Union may not violate the principle of supremacy of the constitution and may not violate any provisions of the constitution" - finished reading the Prime Minister's quotes. 

I can see it something in your faces, I understand that some of you in this room do not agree with that. I just don't understand why. Because these quotes concern decisions of the French Constitutional Council, the Danish Supreme Court, and the German Federal Constitutional Court. I omitted the quotations of the Italian and Spanish courts. The quotations from the rulings of the Polish Tribunal concern the years 2005 and 2010, after Poland became a member of the European Union. And thus the doctrine that we defend today has been established for years now.

It is unacceptable to impose your decisions on others without a legal basis and to use the language of blackmail. I reject the language of threats, blackmail, and extortion. This is not what democracies do.