Poland's constitutional court has challenged the power of the European Union in a landmark ruling which poses a major crisis for the European superblock according to experts. Poland's highest court ruled on Thursday that some parts of EU treaties are incompatible with the Polish constitution, challenging a pillar of European integration and sharply escalating a dispute between Brussels and Warsaw.

       DW News correspondent Jack Parrock explained: "This is going to make things extremely difficult for both sides now.

       "We know that 12 out of the 14 judges on the panel of Poland's Constitutional Court believed that some provisions with EU treaties are in conflict with Poland's constitution.

       "One of the cornerstones of EU membership of being an EU member country is that EU law has primacy over all other laws and that European Court of Justice is the top court within the European Union.

       "What these judges are saying is in some aspects they don't believe that is the case."

       He added: "This is a pretty major issue now for the European Union.

       "We have already seen some pretty strong reaction coming out of European parliamentarians.

       "And I am sure we are going to see some harsh criticism of this ruling coming from the European Commission."

       Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has welcomed the ruling, announced Thursday.

       Mr Morawiecki's Law and Justice (PiS) party government is embroiled in a battle of values with Brussels, focused on disputes over the independence of courts, media freedoms, LGBT rights, and other issues.

       The prime minister had requested the Constitutional Tribunal to rule on whether EU law has primacy over the Polish constitution.

       "We want a community of respect and not a grouping of those who are equal and more equal.

       "This is our community, our Union," he said in the Facebook post, referring to the European Union.

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       "This is the kind of Union we want and that's the kind of Union we will create," Morawiecki said in the post published in the early hours of Friday.

       He also said that Poland wants to stay in the "European family of nations."

       It comes as French European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune said the Polish court ruling marked an attack against the European Union and that economic sanctions were an option.

       "It is most serious...There is the de facto risk of an exit from the European Union," Beaune told BFM TV on Friday, adding he did not wish for Poland to leave the European Union.