Polish law and EU law - how does that work together?
Katarzyna Klafkowska-Waśniowska is a Polish lawyer, PhD in legal sciences, specializing in European Union economic law, intellectual property law and law of electronic media and new technologies.
Is it difficult after 17 years of our membership in the EU to understand the relations between EU law and Polish law?
It is quite a complex issue, even for lawyers. To understand these relations we have to look beyond Polish Constitution, but not disregard it of course.
The Constitution is the highest law in Poland, yet in parallel, to keep the unity and foster European integration, The Court of justice of the European Union (CJEU) developed the principles of supremacy or direct effect of EU law.
To put it very simple: we use different tools to ensure that Polish law complies with the EU standards.
As you mention the role of Court of Justice of the European Union – is it very different from the role of Polish court like Sąd Najwyższy or Trybunał Konstytucyjny?
The Court of Justice of the European Union plays the central role in development of EU legal system.
The interpretation of whole EU law is in the hands of the CJEU judges. Only CJEU has the power to review the legality of EU law. It is a role of a “constitutional court” of the European Union, in a way that the Treaties that the EU is based on constitute its “constitutional charter”.
CJEU, as an international court, also controls Member States as to how they fulfill Treaty obligations, such as implementation of the directives. It may also hear the cases brought by one Member State against another, as in the Czech – Polish coal mine dispute. Though CJEU is not strictly a human rights tribunal, but indirectly it also ensures protection of fundamental rights in the EU.
What is it that we often forget about European Union?
We all understand that EU is a particular international organization, a form of primarily economic but more and more political integration.
I think we often forget that integration is such a dynamic process, and that we take fully part in this process for nearly two decades now. In the discussions about the EU I sometimes have the feeling we concentrate more on EU as abstract “them” rather than “us”.