OREANDA-NEWS. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki accused the EU of blackmail amid disputes about the supremacy of national laws over EU legislation. The head of the Polish government said this on Tuesday, October 19, speaking to the European Parliament in Strasbourg. «I do not agree that politicians want to blackmail Poland and threaten it», Morawiecki said.

The statement of the Polish Prime Minister was made against the background of the preparation by the European Commission of a lawsuit against the Polish government. The lawsuit concerns the possible inconsistency of the Constitution of the Republic with European legislation. The Constitutional Court of Poland on Thursday, October 7, recognized the primacy of the legislation of this country over the laws of the European Union. Certain provisions of EU legislation are incompatible with the Constitution of Poland, the court ruled. According to the judges, the country's membership in the European Union does not give the EU authorities supremacy in the judicial sphere and does not mean the transfer of Warsaw's sovereignty.

This decision provoked harsh criticism from the governing bodies of the European Union. «We cannot allow, and we will not allow, our common values to be jeopardized. The Commission will act. And you know all the options», European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a meeting of the European Parliament.

According to her, the EC can legally challenge the decision of the Constitutional Court of Poland, use a conditional financing mechanism and other financial mechanisms, or use Article 7 of the Treaty on the European Union, which implies a statement of the threat of violation by one of the member states of the common values of the EU. In the case of such a statement, a decision may be taken to suspend certain rights of this State.

MEPs, meanwhile, want to use the so-called mechanism for establishing the conditions of the rule of law, which allows suspending the allocation of EU funds in case of serious abuse of the bloc's budget and funds for recovery after the pandemic.

The rule of law mechanism has been operating in the EU since the beginning of 2021. It provides for the right of the European Commission to reduce the disbursement of funds from the general budget to those countries where there is a threat of misuse of money due to violations of the rule of law.