Good European Neighbours
On 21 May 2021 the Vice-President of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), Ms Rosario Silva de Lapuerta granted interim measures in the case of Czech Republic v Poland, ordering Poland to...
View Article“Non-Existent”
Last Tuesday, the Polish Constitutional Tribunal delivered a ruling which makes the extent of the crisis of the rule of law in Poland unambiguously clear. And it shows how the gap with Europe is...
View ArticleToo little, too late
A few weeks after the ECtHR first stepped into the ring for the fight against rule of law backsliding in Poland via its Xero Flor judgment (also discussed here), it has now dealt a new blow to the...
View ArticleAn Appeal to Polish Authorities
Mr Mateusz Morawiecki Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland Mr Zbigniew Ziobro Minister of Justice, Prosecutor-General Mr Mariusz Kamiński Minister of the Interior and Administration,...
View ArticlePolexit or judicial dialogue?
For anyone following public law, EU law, Poland and the rule of law in the EU, the third week of July was wild. A series of events unfolded in Warsaw and Luxembourg, adding to the saga of Polish rule...
View ArticleProtecting Polish Judges from Political Control
After many years of judicial “reforms”, Kaczyński’s Poland may soon become the EU’s second authoritarian Member State (Orbán’s Hungary ceased to be a democracy in 2019), even as the European Court of...
View ArticleHow Not to Deal with Poland’s Fake Judges’ Requests for a Preliminary Ruling
In his Opinion of 8 July 2021 in Case C-132/20 Getin Noble Bank, AG Bobek advised the Court of Justice (ECJ) to find admissible a national request for a preliminary ruling originating from an...
View ArticleHundreds of judges appointed in violation of the ECHR?
On 22 July 2021, the European Court of Human Rights issued its third judgment concerning the rule of law crisis in Poland. In Reczkowicz v. Poland the Court ruled that the Disciplinary Chamber which...
View ArticleThe Disciplinary Chamber May Go – but the Rotten System will Stay
The notorious Disciplinary Chamber of the Polish Supreme Court, unlawful under EU standards according to the European Court of Justice, will be abolished. In an attempt of quick damage control in...
View ArticleThe Lex TVN and the End of Free Media in Poland
Law & Justice, the ruling party in Poland, plans to reform the media by introducing restrictions on ownership of TV and radio broadcast companies. Entities from outside the European Economic Area...
View ArticlePoland and Europe at a Critical Juncture. What has happened? What is...
Prologue. Living in dual and captured state Oh no, Poland again, you might think … and yet despite massive press coverage, important lessons and themes seem to get lost in the daily narration. In...
View ArticleThe EU’s Face in Łukašenka’s Mirror
On the Polish-Belarusian border near the small village of Usnarz Górny, thirty-two Afghan citizens have been sitting quite literally between the Belarusian border guards on the one side and Polish...
View ArticleHow Much Money is a Lot of Money?
On 7 September 2021, the European Commission announced that it will ask the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to impose financial penalties on Poland for not complying with the Court’s order for interim...
View ArticleWer Karlsruhe mit Warschau gleichsetzt, irrt sich gewaltig
Im polnischen, partiell aber auch im deutschen Diskurs wird das Urteil des Bundesverfassungsgerichts vom 5.5.2020 zur partiellen Verfassungswidrigkeit des PSP-Programms der EZB als qualitativ...
View ArticleWhoever equates Karlsruhe to Warsaw is wildly mistaken
In the Polish, and to some extent also in the German public discourse, the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court of 5 May 2020 on the partial unconstitutionality of the ECB’s PSP programme is...
View ArticleResisting Membership Fatalism
While we fully agree with the main thrust of the editorial ‘The Exit Door’ on Verfassungsblog last Friday, we would like to warn against its seemingly fatalistic mindset. Yes, a Polexit from the EU is...
View ArticleStatement of Retired Judges of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal
10 October 2021 On 7 October 2021, the Constitutional Tribunal issued a judgment in case K 3/21 concerning the place of EU law in the Polish legal order. The judgment caused great public concern due to...
View ArticleGazing into the Abyss
On Thursday 7th October 2021 the Polish Constitutional Tribunal issued its decision in the case K 3/21, setting off a legal and political bomb that sent the entire EU reeling and has media as far as...
View ArticleSealed, Stamped and Delivered
On October 12, 2021, the judgement K 3/21 of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal of 7 October 2021 was published in Poland’s official gazette, the Dziennik Ustaw (here). The published judgement...
View ArticleA Closing of Ranks
On 11 and 12 October the Court of Justice of the European Union sat in Full Court composition (a rarity) to hear Hungary’s and Poland’s challenge of the legality of the rule of law conditionality...
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