Von der Leyen insists on the priority of EU law
Strasbourg - She was "deeply concerned," said the CDU politician in the EU Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday. The latest ruling by the Polish Constitutional Court calls into question the foundations of the European Union. "It is an immediate challenge to the unity of the European legal order."
Only a common legal system enables equal rights, legal security, mutual trust between the member states and the resulting common policy. "This is the first time that a court in a Member State has found that the EU treaties are incompatible with the national constitution," added von der Leyen. This has "serious consequences" for the Polish people.
Because the judgment has a direct effect on the protection of the judiciary. "The judgment undermines the protection of judicial independence guaranteed in Article 19 of the Treaty as interpreted by the European Court of Justice." Without independent courts, people are less protected and, as a result, their rights are at risk.
"We cannot and we will not allow our common values to be jeopardized," continued the EU Commission President. The Commission will therefore act. Options are an infringement procedure as well as the conditionality mechanism and other financial instruments.
"The Polish government now has to explain to us how it wants to protect European money - in view of this ruling by its constitutional court," said von der Leyen. The Article 7 procedure is another option. "It is the strongest instrument of the treaty. And we have to use it again."
Source: Der Newsticker
Photo: dpa.
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