11 October 2021
Resisting Membership Fatalism
While we fully agree with the main thrust of the editorial ‘The Exit Door’ on Verfassungsblog last Friday, we would like to warn against its seemingly fatalistic mindset. Yes, a Polexit from the EU is not on the table until the Polish government itself pushes the Article 50 TEU button, but the other EU Member States do not have to idly wait ‘hoping’ for a resolution to the crisis. Continue reading >>
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10 October 2021
Whoever equates Karlsruhe to Warsaw is wildly mistaken
In the Polish, and to some extent also in the German public discourse, the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court of 5 May 2020 on the partial unconstitutionality of the ECB's PSP programme is considered to be qualitatively comparable to the ruling of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal of 7 October 2021. In this respect, the Polish judgement is merely seen as a continuation of the established case law of the Bundesverfassungsgericht. From a legal point of view, however, this is clearly false. Continue reading >>10 October 2021
Wer Karlsruhe mit Warschau gleichsetzt, irrt sich gewaltig
Im polnischen, partiell aber auch im deutschen Diskurs wird das Urteil des Bundesverfassungsgerichts vom 5.5.2020 zur partiellen Verfassungswidrigkeit des PSP-Programms der EZB als qualitativ vergleichbar mit dem Urteil des polnischen Verfassungsgerichts vom 7.10.2021 eingestuft. Das polnische Urteil knüpfe insoweit lediglich an die gefestigte Rechtsprechung des BVerfG an. Dem ist aus juristischer Sicht aus verschiedenen Gründen deutlich zu widersprechen. Continue reading >>08 October 2021
The Exit Door
Only Poland can take Poland out of the EU. Or keep it in. Continue reading >>16 August 2021
Poland and Europe at a Critical Juncture. What has happened? What is happening? What’s next?
The European institutions must be able to protect the European narrative in Poland because this is what most Poles expect of the EU. And with each passing day, the frustration and the discouragement set in because people see and read about the ECJ decisions and see nothing tangible happen. And then they ask the most dramatic of questions: What does Europe mean for us? This is a critical and dramatic juncture because Europe must not afford losing the support of Polish citizenry. Therefore, Brussels must stop considering the Polish case as a mere problem of bad governance of yet another recalcitrant member state. It would serve European leaders well to finally recognize the constitutional stakes involved and enforce all these in the name of Europe and its citizens. Continue reading >>15 July 2021
Kampf oder diplomatischer Ausgleich?
Nachdem nun die Europäische Kommission angekündigt hat, sie werde das Urteil des BVerfG zum Gegenstand eines Vertragsverletzungsverfahrens machen, hat der frühere Gerichtspräsident Andreas Vosskuhle die Vermutung geäußert, dass die Europäische Kommission und der EuGH in einem kollusiven Zusammenwirken danach strebten, die Europäische Union unter der Hand in einen europäischen Bundesstaat zu verwandeln. Die Auseinandersetzung zwischen den beiden höchsten Gerichten entwickelt sich damit zu einem subkutan ausgetragenen Verfassungsdrama, das allmählich auch eine breitere Öffentlichkeit beunruhigen muss. Continue reading >>18 June 2021
“Non-Existent”
Last Tuesday, the Polish Constitutional Tribunal delivered a ruling which makes the extent of the crisis of the rule of law in Poland unambiguously clear. And it shows how the gap with Europe is widening day by day. If the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe lets this pass, it will not only be a blow to the authority and effectiveness of the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights. Then the guardians of the rule of law will have surrendered even faster than we thought. Continue reading >>10 May 2021
The ECtHR Steps into the Ring
For the last two years, the fight for safeguarding the principle of the rule of law in Poland has been dominated by the ECJ’s case law. During this, the Strasbourg Court has mostly been sitting in the bleachers. Yet, with its Xero Flor judgment of 7 May, it strapped on its gloves and stepped into the ring. It concluded that the Polish Constitutional Tribunal, in its current composition, cannot be seen as a tribunal established by law. The decision will undoubtedly have major political and legal consequences. Continue reading >>
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09 May 2021
What Should and What Will Happen After Xero Flor
On 7 May 2021, the European Court of Human Rights issued a judgment in a case concerning irregularities in the personal composition of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal. The ECtHR found a violation of “the right to a tribunal established by law” due to fact that the decision on the discontinuation of the proceedings concerning a constitutional complaint filed by a Polish company was issued by the Constitutional Tribunal with the participation of a person who was unlawfully elected to the position of judge. The said judgment is the first ruling of an international body finding that the irregularities in the functioning of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal violate international law. Continue reading >>
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28 April 2021