"We must finally put this in order,” Żurek said in a video posted on the justice ministry’s social media accounts on Thursday.
The Court of Justice of the European Union interprets EU law to ensure it is applied uniformly across the bloc.
Under the primacy of EU law, national authorities, including courts, must give effect to EU legal standards.
The Luxembourg-based court ruled that when a higher tribunal does not satisfy those independence requirements, national courts must treat its decisions as having no legal effect.
The decision centers on the Supreme Court’s Chamber of Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs, created in 2018 and widely criticized by European institutions over how its judges were appointed.
The European court said lower courts may not ignore the fact that this chamber lacks the attributes of a court under EU law and therefore must disregard its rulings.
Żurek said the principle of the primacy of EU law, and the binding force of the EU court’s judgments, requires that Polish laws and the case law of the Constitutional Tribunal not block such verification.
The case that triggered Thursday’s ruling arose after the chamber, on October 20, 2021, overturned a 2006 final judgment that had barred the sale of certain crossword magazines and sent the dispute back to a civil court.
That court questioned whether the chamber’s panel had been lawfully constituted, citing irregularities in the appointment process.
In December 2023, the EU court had already declined to take referrals from the chamber, citing a lack of judicial independence.
Żurek added that people still sitting in the Supreme Court without the status of a lawful court have exposed the state to damages, and that those responsible “will have to pay out of their own pockets.”
He said Polish judges are now obliged to check whether a given ruling came from a panel that meets EU standards and, if not, to regard it as non-existent.
The justice ministry’s statement follows the EU court’s finding that national judges must ensure effective legal protection guaranteed by EU law.
Poland’s Supreme Court is the country’s highest court for civil and criminal matters, and its Chamber of Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs has handled extraordinary complaints and public-law disputes since 2018.
(rt/gs)
Source: PAP