RT – October 8, 2021
Paul A. Nuttall is a historian, author and a former politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament between 2009 and 2019 and was a prominent campaigner for Brexit.
The Mexican standoff between Warsaw and Brussels has taken a turn for the worse as Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled that some EU laws are in direct conflict with the Polish Constitution.
This represents a direct challenge to the principle that EU law is supreme in its member states.
The tribunal judgement on Thursday found that the EU institutions often “act beyond the scope of their competences.” Poland’s Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro welcomed the ruling as it “set the constitutional limits of European integration and permissible EU interference in Polish cases.”
Naturally, this judgement has provoked outrage in Brussels. The European Commission responded in typical robust fashion, stating that “All rulings by the European Court of Justice are binding on all Member States’ authorities, including national courts.”
Moreover, the Commission made it clear that it would “not hesitate to make use of its powers under the treaties to safeguard the uniform application and integrity of union law.” In other words, Poland backs down or punishment is in the post.
And what will these punishments be? Well, as ever with the EU, the punishment will be financial reprisals. It’s a bit like when a naughty child has their pocket money withheld from an irate parent.