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EP to call on Polish PM to withdraw EU legal primacy case

Darek Delmanowicz/PAP

The European Parliament is set to call on Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, to withdraw a petition he lodged with Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal asking it to decide which took primacy, EU law or the Polish constitution.

In a move that could place further pressure on tensions between Brussels and Warsaw already strained by numerous disputes, MEPs are due to debate on Wednesday a resolution on “media freedom and the further deterioration of the rule of law in Poland” before a vote on Thursday.

The resolution states, in part, that the European Parliament, “calls on the Polish prime minister not to question the primacy of EU law over national legislation and to withdraw his motion, pending before the illegitimate ‘Constitutional Tribunal,’ to review the constitutionality of certain parts of the EU Treaties.”

Morawiecki filed the petition in March after the European Court of Justice ruled that aspects of the government’s overhaul of the Polish judicial system were in breach of EU law.

The resolution’s authors also want to call on Poland to separate the functions of the prosecutor general and the minister of justice, “as per the Venice Commission’s recommendations.”

In addition, the draft resolution contains criticism of a draft amendment to Polish media law, which the European Parliament document describes as “an attempt to silence critical content and a direct attack on media pluralism.”

An amendment to Poland’s media law, passed by Sejm, the lower house of parliament, seeks to limit media ownership to entities headquartered within the European Economic Area. Its critics have claimed it is an attempt to silence US-owned TV broadcaster TVN and its news channel, TVN24, which have been critical of the government.

The parliamentary motion, supported by the European People’s Party, the Socialists and Democrats, the Liberal Group, the Greens, the Left, and Renew Europe, also calls on the European Commission to “ensure proper implementation of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive” and to “make effective use of infringement procedures in situations where Member States implement these provisions incorrectly or incompletely.”

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