Politics Court: Poland's judiciary violated principles of EU law
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has condemned Poland for violating fundamental principles of EU law.
18.12.2025, 11:44
SDA
By disregarding ECJ case law, the Polish Constitutional Tribunal had violated fundamental principles such as the primacy, autonomy and uniform application of EU law, the judges in Luxembourg ruled. The EU Commission had taken Poland to the ECJ.
The background to the case is two rulings by the Polish Constitutional Tribunal (Trybunal Konstytucyjny) from 2021, in which it refused to recognize decisions of the highest European court as binding because, in its view, they violated the Polish constitution. The Constitutional Tribunal found that the ECJ was exceeding its powers by interfering in the Polish judiciary.
At the time, the country was led by the national-conservative PiS government. It had restructured the Polish judicial system and, according to experts, restricted the separation of powers. The ECJ had ordered certain reforms to be suspended due to concerns about the rule of law.
Poland had already recognized violations
Poland cannot invoke its constitutional identity to evade common EU values such as the rule of law, effective legal protection and judicial independence, the ECJ has now clarified. These values are legally binding for all countries that join the European Union. The judges stated that member states could not renounce them.
After the liberal-conservative Donald Tusk came to power, Poland had already fully acknowledged the violations. The ECJ nevertheless had to examine the allegations.
The ECJ also found that the Constitutional Tribunal did not constitute an independent and impartial court due to irregularities in the appointment of several judges and its former president.
