EU summit loads pressure on Poland over rule of law

By RAF CASERT and SAMUEL PETREQUIN
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders are pressuring a defiant Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to fall back into line on recognizing that EU law trumps national decision-making, hoping that dialogue will stave off a crisis in the bloc. Morawiecki this week painted a picture of an overbearing union treating its 27 member nations as mere provinces, free to impose values at will against the wishes of sovereign peoples. The dispute stems from a recent ruling from Poland’s constitutional court challenging the supremacy of EU laws. EU lawmakers assembled in Strasbourg adopted a resolution Thursday stating that the Polish court “lacks legal validity and independence, and is unqualified to interpret the country’s constitution.”