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BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungary has called on European Union institutions to “respect the sovereignty of member states” after backing a Polish court ruling that some EU laws are incompatible with the Polish constitution.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Saturday signed a decree from the Hungarian government, his press chief told state news agency MTI, welcoming the decision of the Polish Constitutional Court which plunged the EU into an existential crisis.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said she was “deeply concerned” by the decision and that the Commission would do everything in its power to ensure the rule of EU law. [nL1N2R40LR https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/polish-court-ruling-plunges-eu-into-new-crisis-eu-ministers-say-2021-10-08]
Right-wing populist governments in Poland and Hungary have at odds with the Commission on issues ranging from media freedoms, migration, LGBT rights to judicial independence.
The two former communist states, which joined the EU in 2004, have been allies within the bloc, often voting in tandem and supporting each other.
Budapest said Thursday’s Polish court ruling was triggered by “bad practice by the European institutions” trying to take away from member states certain powers that had never been conferred on the EU.
“The rule of EU law can only apply in areas where the EU has powers, the framework for this has been defined in the EU treaties,” MTI said, citing the Hungarian decree.
EU institutions must respect the national identity of member states, he added.
The Polish Constitutional Court took up the case after Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki asked it whether the EU institutions could prevent Poland from reorganizing its judicial system.
Despite disputes between Brussels and their respective governments, support for EU membership remains high in Poland and Hungary.
(Reporting by Krisztina Than; Editing by Mike Harrison)
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