There is a growing concern in Poland that the country is heading towards a ‘Polexit’ from the European Union. This comes after Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled that Polish law took precedence over EU law. The decision sparked a backlash among EU supporters as a group of protesters gathered outside the Warsaw Constitutional Tribunal on Thursday.
Protesters holding Polish flags and pro-EU signs were seen demonstrating against the court’s controversial decision.
The court ruled that parts of the EU treaties are incompatible with the Polish constitution.
The decision prompted questions concerning Poland’s future in the EU if the country no longer respects Brussels’ legal regulations.
The final arbiter of EU law is the European Court of Justice, according to the membership treaties.
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The decision also raises doubts around Poland’s £48bn in EU recovery funds, yet to be approved by Brussels.
Protesters outside the Tribunal held signs that read ‘EU don’t back down’ and ‘I love EU’.
Others simply demanded ‘No Polexit’.
Polish opposition leader and former European Council President Donald Tusk has called “on all those who want to defend European Poland” to a mass protest in Warsaw on Sunday.
Mr Kaczynski insisted that the EU had no right to interfere in the country’s courts.
René Repasi, a professor of international and European law at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, said: “This is the furthest step towards a legal exit from the EU ever taken by a national court.”
French European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune said the court decision was an attack on the European Union and that economic sanctions were an option.
He said on Friday: “It is most serious. There is the de facto risk of an exit from the European Union.”
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