Critics of the right-wing nationalist government fear that the court’s ruling could lead to “Polexitis” or to the expulsion of Poland from the EU due to a clear rejection of Union laws and values.
Thousands of people in Warsaw filled the Castle Square in the historic center, where some held posters with phrases like “we are Europeans” and shouted: “We will stay!”.
Donald Tusk, Poland’s main opposition leader and former president of the Council of Europe, called the protest an attempt to defend Poland’s continued membership in a group of 27 EU member states.
Tusk strongly condemned the actions of the ruling party under the leadership of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who has been in conflict with the EU for six years as his party seeks to tighten control over the courts. The EU views change as undermining the democratic system.
EU membership is immensely popular in Poland as it brought new freedom of movement and radical economic transformation to a Central European country that experienced decades of communist rule until 1989.
Addressing thousands of protesters, Tusk said that “a pseudo-court […] by order of the party leader, in violation of the Constitution, he decided to withdraw Poland from the EU. “
“We want an independent, law-abiding, democratic and just Poland,” Tusk said before protesters sang the national anthem.
Kaczynski has denied his intention to withdraw Poland from the EU, although members of the ruling party have recently made statements suggesting that this may be their goal.
State TV, a representative of the ruling Law and Justice Party, published news during Tusk’s speech, which said “protest against the Polish constitution” and “Tusk attacks Polish sovereignty.”
In addition to Warsaw, major protests took place in the area in other cities across the country.
Lech Walesa, who received the Nobel Peace Prize for his opposition to the communist regime in Poland, addressed the crowd in Gdansk to applause. Walesa is a frequent critic of the government, whom he accuses of destroying many of Poland’s democratic achievements.
The Constitutional Court ruling was issued on Thursday and challenges the EU’s rule of law.
In a judgment requested by Poland’s prime minister, the court ruled on Thursday that in some cases the Polish constitution takes precedence over EU law.
The prime minister demanded a review after the European Court of Justice ruled in March that Poland’s new rules on the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court could violate EU law and ordered the Warsaw government to suspend them.
