Conflict between EU law and national sovereignty: Analysis of decisions by the Constitutional Court of Poland in the light of the rule of law in the European Union

Abstract

The relevance of the study is conditioned by the growing tension between the principle of the rule of law of the European Union and the trends of national legal sovereignty in the member states, which threatens the integrity of the common legal space of the European Union. The purpose of the study was to analyse the legal consequences of the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Poland on the interaction between national sovereignty and the rule of law in the European Union, and to assess their impact on legal integration within the European Union. The study used methods of legal analysis, comparative analysis, and methods of interpretation of court decisions, which allow assessing the legal consequences of decisions of the Constitutional Court of Poland and their impact on the interaction of national and European law. In the course of the study, it was revealed that the decision of the Constitutional Court of Poland regarding the superiority of the national constitution over the law of the European Union led to a legal conflict that makes it impossible for the rule of Law of the European Union to fully function.It was found that this position created legal difficulties for national courts in the application of decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the implementation of the Unionʼs law. It was found that the response of the institutions of the European Union, in particular, the Court of Justice and the European Commission, was based on mechanisms for monitoring compliance with the rule of law, but was limited in the context of national resistance. It was proved that the case of Poland showed the process of politicisation of constitutional control, which calls into question the independence of national judicial bodies in the member states. The lack of a unified mechanism for resolving the conflict between national sovereignty and legal integration creates systemic risks for the stability of the common legal space of the European Union. The analysis showed the need for normative rationing of the correlation of national constitutional control with the legal obligations of member states within a single legal space. Practical significance lies in the development of the basis for improving the mechanisms of legal responsibility of member states in the event of a deviation from the principle of the rule of law in the Union

Keywords

• institution
• jurisdiction
• pluralism
• normative inconsistency
• sovereignty