This article was published online by the Magyar Nemzet on 17, July 2021.
“Brussels has launched an unprecedented brutal attack on Polish constitutional sovereignty in recent years,” said Tamás Deutsch concerning the legal battle between Warsaw and Brussels. According to the head of the Fidesz delegation to the European Parliament, Brussels is making a very aggressive effort to build their empire.
– The Polish Constitutional Court has ruled that national law takes precedence over European Union law. What could the consequences of this decision be for the relationships between Member States and the EU?
– The bureaucracy of Brussels, driven by its efforts to build its empire, drove the British out of the European Union after many years of hard work. In recent weeks, it made a sharp attack on Germany over the decision of the German Constitutional Court regarding the relationship between EU law and that of Member States. And now Poland get everything thrown at them from Brussels due to their Constitutional Court’s decision.
In recent years, Brussels has launched an unprecedentedly brutal attack on Polish constitutional sovereignty by engaging in political and legal battles with the Poles over matters of national justice regulation which belong to sovereign national and constitutional spheres.
The British took off the gloves after a certain point and slammed the door on the EU in the end. The Germans also took off the gloves because, despite the initiated infringement proceedings, the German Constitutional Court said thanks but no thanks, they will not change their minds. And clearly, the Polish have taken off their gloves as well. The fundamental question is whether these empire-building efforts by Brussels that incrementally tear apart the EU will continue, or, if common sense will prevail and the Member States will be allowed to exercise their freedom and the opportunities guaranteed by their sovereignty. Either Brussels continues to build its empire, or Member States can voluntarily and sovereignly work together… “That is the question, answer me!” to live by the words of the most famous Hungarian poet, Sándor Petőfi. If the increasingly aggressive series of attacks from Brussels bureaucrats continue, there will be unpredictable dire consequences.
– Do the German and Polish constitutional courts’ decisions symbolize a breaking point in the EU?
– The primacy of national law versus EU or community law is the subject of a decades-long debate. It is quite clear that where there are common EU competences, i.e., the Member States have delegated certain areas of their sovereignty to the EU, then EU law takes precedence. However, in the cases where twenty-seven sovereign Member States conduct their affairs in a sovereign manner at their own discretion, there should be no mention of the primacy of EU law because there is no competence or jurisdiction there.
Over the past decade, Brussels has persisted with very aggressive attempts at empire-building.
Three European countries with different historical backgrounds and legal systems have drifted into the same conflict with Brussels, and I have not even gotten around to Hungary. I can see a systematic disintegration of the EU by the builder of the Brussels empire.
– In the past few days, the press has written about “Polexit”; in other words, Poland’s recent decision has de facto separated itself from EU law, thus bringing it closer to leaving the European Union. Is this not an exaggeration?
– Even during the decades-long series of conflicts between the British and the EU, everyone called the warnings about the possible withdrawal of the British an exaggeration – and then it happened. The Poles are not dissociating themselves from EU law, rather they are being systematically extorted. I believe that Brussels will not give any ground because they have convinced themselves that there will be no “Polexit” anyways.
I hope that the bureaucrats of the EU institutions will finally re-read the EU Treaties and realize that the EU will only remain and work well if Brussels follows the rules and they do not seek to gain more and more positions of power from Member States.
Zoltán Kottász
