BRUSSELS — The European Union’s top official locked horns Tuesday with Poland’s prime minister, arguing that a recent ruling from the country’s constitutional court challenging the supremacy of EU laws is a threat to the bloc’s foundations and won’t be left unanswered.
Addressing EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said she is deeply concerned by the ruling, which she said is “a direct challenge to the unity of the European legal order” and undermines the protection of judicial independence.
“The rule of law is the glue that binds our union together,” von der Leyen said.
Relations between Poland and the EU reached a new low earlier this month after the tribunal ruled that Polish laws take precedence over those of the 27-nation bloc — which Poland joined in 2004 — escalating lingering tensions over democratic standards between the country’s right-wing nationalist government and Brussels institutions, according to AP.
The split came to a head at Tuesday’s plenary of the European Parliament, where Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki defended his country’s stance that the highest law of Poland is the country’s constitution and that it stands above any other law.
But Morawiecki insisted that Poland abides by EU treaties and brushed off comments from opponents of Poland’s nationalist government who fear that the court’s ruling has put the country on a path to a possible “Polexit,” or an exit from the 27-nation EU.
“We should not be spreading further lies about Poland leaving the EU,” he said.
