Articles for tag: EuGHjudicial independencePolnischer VerfassungsgerichtshofVerfassungsgerichtshof von Rumänien

From Romania with Love

The CJEU judgment "Euro Box Promotion" explicitly extended the Union’s requirement of judicial independence to constitutional courts for the first time. The ‘Romanian’ ruling carries an important message for the Polish government on how the EU legal order might react to the recent rulings of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal, which negate the primacy of European Union law. As a consequence, the CJEU confirms the right and the obligation of national courts to disregard constitutional court rulings that violate EU law.

The Honest (though Embarrassing) Coming-out of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal

The particular coming-out of the Tribunal, made in the judgment K 6/21 by admitting that the Constitutional Tribunal is not subject in general to the standards inherent in Article 6 EC, leads to the conclusion that the Polish Constitutional Tribunal and its judges need not be independent. Paradoxically, therefore, the judgment confirms (albeit by different reasoning) the disqualification of the Tribunal made in the Xero Flor judgment by ECtHR. And yet the Tribunal intended to remove the negative consequences for itself of the Xero Flor. 

Ein Ausschluss aus der EU ist als Ultima-Ratio-Maßnahme möglich

Am 7. Oktober 2021 hat das polnische Verfassungsgericht eine Entscheidung erlassen, die sich nur mit dem Zünden einer Bombe vergleichen lässt. Nur integrationspolitische Traumwandler könnten die Position zu vertreten, dass es keine rechtliche Möglichkeit gibt, einen EU-Mitgliedstaat, der die Mitgliedschaftsbedingungen dauerhaft missachtet, den Status zu entziehen.

This Was Not Just Another Ultra Vires Judgment!

A few days ago, 27 retired judges of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal have issued a statement concerning the judgment K 3/21 of 7 October 2021. We are both among its signatories. With this article, we hope to contribute to the clarification of the false statements contained in that judgment, its oral explanations and statements of representatives of political authorities, regarding the difficult matters of coexistence of Polish law and European Union law.

Statement of Retired Judges of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal

On 7 October 2021, the Constitutional Tribunal issued a judgment in case K 3/21 concerning the place of EU law in the Polish legal order. The judgment caused great public concern due to its foreseeable devastating consequences for the position of the Republic of Poland as a Member State of the European Union. The retired judges of the Constitutional Tribunal fully share this concern. In addition, however, they consider it their duty to correct the many false assertions contained in the judgment, its oral reasoning and the comments of representatives of political power.