Polish court rules against supremacy of EU law

Poland's top court on Oct. 7 ruled against the supremacy of EU law in a landmark ruling that could threaten the country's EU funding and even its membership of the bloc.

The court said some EU treaty articles were "incompatible" with the Polish constitution and warned EU institutions not to "act beyond the scope of their competencies" by interfering with Poland's judiciary - a major bone of contention with Brussels.

The ruling prompted a stern warning from Brussels, with EU justice commissioner Didier Reynders saying that "all tools" would be used to preserve EU law in Poland and that the principle of supremacy of EU law was "at the heart of the union".

Poland and the EU are at odds over judicial reforms introduced by Poland's governing right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party which Brussels warns threaten the country's democracy.

"Shame!", "Traitors!" and "Welcome to Belarus!" shouted a group of around 30 protesters outside the court after hearing the ruling, some of whom waved European Union flags.

"It's a scandal... They're taking us out of the European Union!" said Anna Labus, a pensioner who was in tears.

Malgorzata Roslonska, the owner of a hairdressing salon, said: "This is probably the first step towards Polexit".

In Brussels, Jeroen Lenaers, a spokesman on justice and home affairs for the European People's Party, said: "Enough is enough. This is an attack on the EU as a whole".

But the Polish government, which brought the case, welcomed the ruling, with spokesman Piotr Muller saying that it confirmed "the primacy of constitutional law over other sources of law".

Before the ruling, EU economy commissioner Paolo Gentiloni had warned that the Polish court case could have "consequences" for the...