Losing precedence

François Valentin and Jorge González-Gallarza | 25th November 2021 | Magazine, Uncategorised

The ECJ is losing out in Poland and beyond. Is the primacy of EU law ebbing away?

From abortion to the appointment of judges, the number of topics that the current Polish government and Brussels are agreeing on is dwindling. Tensions are, unsurprisingly, rising. The Polish Constitutional Tribunal’s K 3/21 decision earlier this month yanked up the emotional pressure. Why? The Polish Court essentially deemed three articles (1, 2 and 19 - all referring to the European Court of Justice) to be unconstitutional, thereby rejecting the principle of the primacy of EU law. Precedential history The primacy of EU law is he notion that EU law takes precedence over that of member states. Although it is now seen as a major organ of the nature of the Union, it was not explicitly enshrined in 1957's founding treaty. Only seven years after this did the ECJ rule that its treaties had created a new legal system in which national courts were bound to respect EU law. The Court ruled that law could not vary between member states, without making the attendant obligations contingent. Member...

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