The calls for estrangement do not match reality
Poland's exit from the European Union is currently unlikely
Polish supporters of the European Union demonstrating in Warsaw.
archival
When former Prime Minister David Cameron announced his intention to renegotiate the UK's position within the European Union, Poland was among the first countries to express support, and while those negotiations did not go as planned, the calls for reform of the union did not disappear. Today, Poland is still in the debate over national sovereignty, and it has received attention at the Conference on the Future of Europe, however, unlike the United Kingdom, there are no serious political forces calling for Poland to leave the European bloc.
The ruling Law and Justice Party has remained a leading voice for reform, often working with other Central Eastern European member states, which have begun to share their skepticism when it comes to increasing the centralization of power in Brussels. In particular, Poland has had an active leadership role in supporting European energy independence. Opposition to Russian interference, and infrastructure modernization in the region.
Poland also remains an important bridge between the European Union and other countries in Eastern Europe, especially those in the process of transition to Western democracy. Through European and non-European channels.
As for the rupture with Brussels, the enthusiastic coverage in some quarters does not match the reality on the ground, and in Warsaw, today, the only political movements that defend the so-called “Polexit” (Poland’s promotion of the Union), are those in the “Confederation,” which is An alliance of conspiracy theorists, radicals and extremists, from champions of free capitalism to totalitarian monarchists.
The Polish Constitutional Court's ruling on the primacy of Polish law over EU law appears to have sparked hysteria, in some Western media, partly because there is some sort of confusion comparing any EU-skeptical statement or action to a Brexit-style attempt. From the European Union, and most journalists who write on the subject often do not do so from Warsaw.
However, the debate over whether national law or EU law should take precedence is certainly in vogue, and even former Brexit negotiator-turned-presidential candidate in France, Michel Barnier, has expressed similar sentiments to those which has prevailed in Polish courts, is that EU law should not invalidate French law, and there is good reason to return this discussion to the front pages, and the fact that an increasing number of decisions, regulations and directives, issued by both the European Parliament and the European Commission, fall outside the core competences of the Union European Union, and an increasing number of laws, passed in Brussels, have crossed borders into areas over which the Union does not have jurisdiction.
Particularly egregious are the Union's attempts to make its way into social affairs, which represent a major departure from treaties and underscore the arrogant attitude of some, in Brussels, to the rule of law.
The case before the Polish Constitutional Court may end up being the first of many, unless the EU returns to respecting the individual sovereignty of its member states.
The strength of the Union derives from the confidence placed in it by 27 individual countries, not the other way around, and the judgment of the Polish court expresses no more than this feeling.
But while we may expect more bitterly raging battles, Euroskeptics should not delude themselves that Poland, or any of its close neighbors, has any intention of leaving the bloc.
• Poland remains an important bridge between the European Union and other countries in Eastern Europe, especially those in the process of transition towards Western democracy.
Robert Tyler ■ Political writer
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