BRUSSELS — A high-stakes legal battle between Poland and the European Union has escalated into a political crisis, setting off an internecine fight between the bloc's institutions, as leaders debate withholding billions in E.U. money over concerns that Warsaw is violating democratic norms.
Wp Get the full experience.Choose your plan ArrowRight
The conflict was supercharged this month, when Poland’s top court ruled that the national constitution trumps some E.U. laws — a direct challenge to the connective tissue of treaties and agreements that holds the 27-member club together.
The move has forced E.U. leaders to once again confront an existential question: How should a bloc built on liberal values respond when one of its members backslides on democracy?
Poland deepens rifts with European Union after rebuff over judicial rules
“This is a much bigger crisis than the euro crisis, Brexit or the migration crisis, because it undermines the whole foundation of the European Union,” said Heather Grabbe, director of the Open Society European Policy Institute. “And it also undermines democracy, because you can’t have democracy without rule of law.”
Advertisement
Story continues below advertisement
The issue is threatening to overshadow this week’s summit of European presidents and prime ministers, which begins Thursday. After clamoring from several member states, the subject of rule of law was added to the meeting’s agenda at the last minute, while some leaders have openly criticized their Polish counterpart and are calling for a forceful response.
For years, E.U. leaders have regularly registered their disappointment as eastern members backed away from their democratic commitments. They have issued stern words as Poland constrained judicial and media independence. They have conveyed warnings as Hungary’s Viktor Orban deployed the tools of democracy to solidify his control.
But those member countries have often looked to the E.U. less as a beacon of democracy than as a means of expanding economic opportunities, according to the bloc’s own opinion surveys. And so many E.U. leaders have begun to embrace money — and the threat of cutting it off — as their most effective tool against democratic backsliding.
Already, the European Commission, the E.U.’s executive arm, is holding up about $42 billion in grants and loans to Poland from its coronavirus recovery fund, and last month it asked the European Court of Justice to impose daily fines on Warsaw for defying its rulings.
After the latest provocation, some European leaders and good government advocates want the commission to go further by invoking a new and never-before-used tool that allows the E.U. to block budget funds for states that fail to uphold the rule of law, which could freeze billions more bound for Poland, the largest recipient of the bloc’s money.
Advertisement
Story continues below advertisement
Top commission officials have indicated they are prepared to use the budgetary tool, known as the conditionality mechanism, but they have not laid out a timeline or specified target countries, which could include Hungary as well as Poland.
On Wednesday, the European Parliament announced it is preparing to file a lawsuit against the commission, accusing it of failing to act quick enough to rein in Poland — an extraordinary example of infighting between two E.U. institutions that underscores the prominence and political sensitivity of the debate.
Experts point to 2015, when Poland’s right-wing Law and Justice party came to power, as the beginning of a steady erosion of the independence of civic institutions: Officials filled courtrooms with political loyalists, turned public media into pro-government mouthpieces and sought to shut down dissent.
Advertisement
Story continues below advertisement
Poland’s increasingly strict antiabortion laws and exclusionary, anti-LGBT policies have drawn criticism from across the world, especially in Europe. And rule-of-law audits have singled out Warsaw and Budapest as capitals of struggling democracies.
The latest and most serious chapter in the dispute with the E.U. stems from changes to the Polish judicial system. As part of the Law and Justice party’s consolidation of judicial bodies and legal powers, the government established a “disciplinary chamber” that critics say is a tool to intimidate judges.
In July, the European Court of Justice ruled that the system was “not compatible” with E.U. law and ordered Poland to suspend the court’s activities. Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal — which is itself stacked with government allies and considered illegitimate by legal analysts — responded by ruling that the European court’s order was “inconsistent” with the Polish constitution.
Advertisement
Story continues below advertisement
The ruling foreshadowed the tribunal’s October decision, which asserted that Poland’s constitution overrides E.U. law in some cases, an unprecedented strike at the bloc’s legal order.
“It paves the way for these challenges in other member states,” Grabbe said. “If it spreads to other member states, it is the end of the E.U.”
If the E.U. doesn’t respond forcefully, Grabbe added, it risks losing its credibility among Poles — who overwhelmingly support membership in the bloc — and in other member countries, where citizens could become jaded by watching their tax dollars flow to authoritarian regimes.
The tension was on full display earlier this week, at a hearing of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, where lawmakers clashed with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and urged European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to take more action.
Advertisement
Story continues below advertisement
“We expect the commission to do whatever it takes to halt the destruction of rule of law,” said Sophie in ’t Veld, a Dutch parliament member. “Anything less would amount to a dereliction of duty.”
Lukasz Kohut, of Poland, aimed spirited criticism at Morawiecki, who was seated feet away on the floor of the hemicycle, accusing his party of “Euro-separatism.”
“Your place will be in the dustbin of history as the last vivid memorial to nationalism and populism,” Kohut said.
Morawiecki struck a defiant tone. Speaking for 35 minutes, the Polish leader said his country was being “attacked” and he accused the E.U. of blackmail for considering withholding funds.
Story continues below advertisement
“It is unacceptable to talk about financial penalties,” Morawiecki said. “We heard even worse language as it relates to some member states. I reject the language of threats and I will not have E.U. politicians blackmail Poland.”
Advertisement
He dismissed talk of a “Polexit” from the E.U., but he also echoed familiar criticisms of Brussels as an overreaching bureaucracy carrying out a “creeping revolution” through European Court of Justice verdicts.
“If you want a supranational state in Europe, first, why don't you ask and get consent from all these sovereign member states?” Morawiecki said.
Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has long assumed a mediator role between Central and Western European countries in rule of law spats, cautioned the E.U. last week against withholding the money, instead encouraging “in-depth” dialogue with the Polish government.
Story continues below advertisement
She said it was “saddening” that the European Parliament was pursuing a lawsuit against the commission and said it would probably be fruitless.
“We are all member states of the European Union,” Merkel said, “which means we have the duty always to try to find compromise — without giving up our principles, obviously.”
Quentin Ariès contributed to this report.
In Eastern Europe, the E.U. faces a rebellion more threatening than Brexit
E.U. issues its first rule-of-law report, angering leaders of Hungary and Poland
Poland triggers an existential crisis for Europe