EU leaders fear Polish exit after court’s ruling

BRUSSELS >> Senior officials from two founding members of the European Union expressed fears Friday that a Polish ruling challenging the supremacy of EU laws could trigger the country’s exit from the 27-nation bloc.

France’s Europe minister, Clement Beaune, insisted that Thursday’s ruling from Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal was an attack against the EU, while Luxembourg Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Jean Asselborn said Poland was “playing with fire.”

They spoke a day after the tribunal ruled that Polish laws take precedence over those of the 27-nation bloc, which Poland joined in 2004. The ruling further escalated lingering tensions over democratic standards between the country’s right-wing nationalist government and Brussels institutions.

The tribunal majority ruling — in response to a case brought by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki — said Poland’s EU membership did not give the European Court of Justice supreme legal authority and did not mean that Poland had shifted its legal sovereignty to the EU.

The head of the EU’s executive branch, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, said she was “deeply concerned” by the ruling and pledged a swift analysis of its meaning before the EU acts. She also hinted at possible business disruptions with Poland.

“Our utmost priority is to ensure that the rights of Polish citizens are protected and that Polish citizens enjoy the benefits granted by membership of the European Union, just like all citizens of our Union,” von der Leyen said. “Moreover, EU citizens, as well as companies doing business in Poland, need the legal certainty that EU rules, including rulings of the European Court of Justice, are fully applied in Poland.”