Tens of thousands of people demonstrated, Sunday evening October 10, in several cities of Poland their membership of the EU in reaction to the decision of the Polish Constitutional Court - which challenged, Thursday, the primacy of European law.
This decision, refusing any European control over Polish laws, could mark a first step towards Poland's exit from the EU.
It is against this idea of a "Polexit" that the Poles mobilized on Sunday, at the call of the leader of the opposition and former President of the European Council, Donald Tusk.
"Tens of thousands of people in Warsaw and in more than 100 towns and villages in Poland came to protest against what this government is doing to our homeland," said Donald Tusk to a huge crowd armed with European blue flags in the capital.
Earlier today, he called on his compatriots to "defend a European Poland".
"We have to save Poland, no one will do it for us," he added on Twitter.
"I am here because I am afraid that we are leaving the EU. It is very important, especially for my granddaughter," said Elzbieta Morawska, 64, who was parading in Warsaw.
"The UK has just left the EU and it's a tragedy. If Poland leaves now, it will also be a tragedy," said Aleksander Winiarski, 20, who studies in England and is also demonstrating in the capital.
Poland and other Central and Eastern European countries joined the European Union in 2004, 15 years after Lech Walesa's trade union movement helped to overthrow the Communist regime.
>> To read: Between Poland and the European Union, a "very predictable" escalation of tensions
Beginning of "Legal Polexit"?
Membership of the Union remains very popular, according to the polls, but relations between Warsaw and Brussels have become markedly strained since the populist Law and Justice (PiS) came to power in 2015.
The clashes relate in particular to the reforms of the judicial system wanted by the government, and which the EU considers will undermine the independence of the judiciary and risk leading to a reduction in democratic freedoms.
The most recent of these conflicts is the decision of the Polish Constitutional Court which challenged the primacy of European law over Polish law, ruling several articles of European treaties "incompatible" with the country's Constitution. The Court, largely in favor of the current power, also warned the European institutions not to "act beyond their competence" by interfering in the reforms of the Polish judicial system.
Brussels immediately reacted, through the voice of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
"Our treaties are very clear. All decisions of the Court of Justice of the EU are binding on all authorities in the Member States, including national courts. EU law takes precedence over national law, including on constitutional provisions, ”she said, adding that“ this is what all EU member states have signed up to ”.
Before the judgment, the EU warned that the case could have "consequences" for the payment to Poland of European recovery funds after the Covid-19.
Analysts see the Polish decision as the start of "legal Polexit" - which the government has denied, however.
With AFP
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