Judges in Poland poised to make major decision over EU relations

Poland's relationship with the European Union could be significantly redefined by the outcome of a gathering of judges in the country's Constitutional Tribunal that took place on Tuesday.

The meeting of senior lawmakers was convened to decide which has primacy, the law of the Polish constitution or that of the EU.

The discussion comes after a long-running dispute between the two sides caused by Poland's desire to overhaul and update its legal system, proposals that the EU opposes. Earlier this month, in the face of EU pressure, it abandoned plans for a new disciplinary chamber for judges, after claims it would undermine the independence of the judiciary.

The country's justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, who is leader of one of the government's smaller coalition parties, United Poland, has adopted a more confrontational attitude than prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki, calling the EU's criticism "hybrid warfare "against Poland's legal system.

"The prime minister is a proponent of seeking compromises, and we consider that the aggression of the EU should be met with a tough response," he added.

Should the decision of the judges go against the government, the European Court of Justice will be able to prevent the changes happening.

But should they rule in favor of the state, the government of the conservative Law and Justice Party could potentially be given power to try to amend the laws of the EU or even leave the bloc, which it joined in 2004.

The issue has already proved highly controversial in Poland, and on the eve of the gathering, pro-democracy activists, who say the national court is not legitimate because the government illegally appointed three new judges after winning power in 2015, staged a sit - in protest at court premises.

Earlier this month, writing in the Financial Times, Aleks Szczerbiak, a professor of politics and contemporary European studies at the University of Sussex in England, suggested that the Law and Justice Party's six-year grip on power was loosening, with its support having dropped from around 40 percent 12 months ago to anywhere between 30 and 35 percent now.

Attempts to tighten abortion laws drew widespread international criticism, and there is also dissatisfaction over the government's handling of the pandemic; according to figures published by Reuters, so far there have been 2.8 million infections and more than 75,000 novel coronavirus-related deaths. Economy minister Jaroslaw Gowin, leader of another junior coalition party, the liberal-conservative Agreement Party, was recently fired from the government, causing further destabilization.

European Commission vice-president for values and transparency Vera Jourová met Polish officials recently and spoke of ongoing dialogue, but her language was criticized by R. Daniel Kelemen, professor of political science and law and Jean Monnet chair in EU politics at Rutgers University.

"Dialogue with autocrats doesn't work," he wrote. "They just use the extra time to speed up their destruction for democracy and rule of law and laugh at the weakness of the European Commission."