Bucharest refuses to bow to Brussels in primacy row

Romania’s constitutional court rules that EU law does not take precedence over domestic legislation

THE European Union’s power over its member states was dealt a fresh blow last night after Romania became the latest country to rule that EU treaties do not override national laws.

In a blow to the bloc’s legal order, Romania’s constitutional court disputed a second European Court of Justice ruling that demanded its judges recognise that EU law takes precedence over domestic legislation.

“National constitutional courts ruling that EU law does not have supremacy over domestic laws is a development of very serious concern for the EU,” said Prof Gavin Barrett, an expert in EU law at University College Dublin.

Brussels has been forced to defend itself against a number of similar challenges. Germany’s and Poland’s constitutional courts have also ruled that their judges must put domestic law first.

The European Commission is still at loggerheads with Warsaw over the supremacy of EU laws, which prompted fears of a “Polexit”. Complaints against Berlin were dropped after the German government said it supports the primacy of EU laws.

Warsaw has dismissed that it is attempting to engineer Poland’s departure, but warned that it could be forced out of the bloc if Brussels continues to disregard its sovereignty.

The country’s nationalist Law and Justice government has repeatedly challenged EU rules and refused to pay fines imposed by the ECJ.

A similar debate over Romania’s membership has not yet materialised, but polling last year revealed almost 70 per cent of its citizens believe leaving the EU is a price worth paying to defend national interests.

All member states agree to a treaty provision that dictates EU law has primacy over national law. The final arbiter of EU law is the ECJ in Luxembourg,

‘National courts ruling that EU law does not have supremacy over domestic law is of serious concern’

according to its membership treaties.

“Much of the power of the European Union derives from EU law operating uniformly and effectively right across the territory of all 27 member states. Take that away and each member state turns into a separate legal zone where the rules on say, the single market, and criminal justice cooperation differ from one place to the next,” Prof Barrett said.

“In other words, you end up with... crippled European Union. In its own way this development is a crisis of greater significance than Brexit has ever been. The EU has survived Brexit. But if the view becomes widespread that supremacy no longer holds sway in national courts, the EU won’t survive – at least not in its present form.”

Didier Reynders, the EU’S justice commissioner, could trigger legal action against Romania, given its top court’s “real, permanent and persistent position to go against the EU law or the binding character of the ECJ decisions”. In an interview with the Financial

he said he had not received sufficient reassurances that Bucharest was willing to respect that the bloc’s laws must supersede domestic legislation.

Cristian Terhes, a Romanian MEP, said: “The EU is not a country and does not have its own sovereignty, because it does not have a constitution.

“When the European bureaucrats proposed a European Constitution, people rejected it by referendum in 2005.

“It is absurd to even consider that reports initiated by Commission bureaucrats from Brussels can have primacy over any national constitution.”

Under the Romanian constitution, supremacy of EU law is acknowledged, but when it clashes with domestic legislation, judges are allowed to decide that national rules are superior.

This has raised doubts over Bucharest’s commitment to the European project and the independence of its judiciary.