I recenti interventi della Corte di giustizia a tutela della rule of law in relazione alla crisi polacca

Abstract

The mechanism set up by Art. 7, para. 1, TEU has been activated against Poland on 20 December 2017. Nevertheless, Poland did not comply with the recommendations given by the European Commission, focused on the lack of judicial independence due to a recent reform that provoked the forced anticipated retirement of 27 judges sitting in the Polish Supreme Court. Consequently, the Commission launched an infringement procedure against Poland and referred this Member State to the Court of Justice, in order to protect the independence of the Polish Supreme Court (case C-619/18). With two orders given in this case, the Court of Justice highlights, as already underlined in ASJP (case C-64/16) and LM (case C-216/18 PPU), the close link between the rule of law – one of the fundamental values listed by Art. 2 TEU – and Art. 19 TEU. Moreover, the analysis aims to underline the possibility to use the infringement procedure (Art. 258 TFEU) as a powerful (and efficient) tool to protect fundamental values in the ongoing rule of law crisis.