“There is only one thing to do: go back to the treaties and put in jail all those who exceeded their powers and failed to fulfill their obligations within this European Union, encroaching on the competences of the member states and violating the basic principles, one could say constitutional, the basic principles of the European Union. That’s all” – Prof. Przemysław Czarnek, a constitutional lawyer, said during a panel as part of the 5th Three Seas Local Government Congress, which took place in Lublin on March 12-13.
When asked whether the federalization of the European Union constitutes a real threat, Prof. Przemysław Czarnek replied: “Federalization itself would not be the worst thing, because it does not go in the direction of federalization, it goes in the direction of creating a uniform European state. If it were only federalization, appropriately packaged… The United States is a federation, and what? Individual states have much more sovereignty and independence in many areas than the member states of the European Union today. So unfortunately it does not go in the direction of federalization itself, although that would be dangerous, because we do not know how it would end. It goes in the direction of creating a uniform European state, and this is a very simple recipe for disaster, and the worst possible disaster, for a return to the events in Europe from the mid-20th century, without the slightest doubt. This is where it is heading”.
The Three Seas Initiative is a great opportunity not only for Poland
The lawyer also referred to the Three Seas Initiative, seeing this project as “a great chance to bring the European Union to its senses, if it develops, of course, if it is not blocked”.
“In this respect, the Three Seas Initiative can show that we really want to benefit, just as we have benefited over the last twenty years, from our presence in the European Union and benefit from the development of the European Union, but the EU of the treaty, the EU as a community of states with their sovereignty, independence. States with equal rights, which transfer competences only in some matters to the European level. In this sense, the Three Seas countries can cause the blocking of this – we call it federalization during this conference, and in fact the creation of a unified state under the German, i.e. Russian, boot, because let’s not have the slightest illusion: German-Russian interests have existed for many centuries, they have also been in the last dozen or so years, and they are still there today. If someone thinks of a unified European state, they think of a state with German interests, with French helpers, and German interests are Russian interests. In such a state, we would once again be in the deadly grip of these two of our neighbors. In short: never any federalization, and even less so of a unified European state. This is a huge threat to Europe in general, where we were, are and will be. We must think about future generations. Not about ourselves, but about the conditions in which our children, our grandchildren and those who will come after us will live” – he noted.
“All these decisions that are being made today, or the blockades that we are putting down, I hope the Three Seas Initiative, showing the great importance of the Three Seas Initiative, will pay off positively for our future generations” – Prof. Czarnek assessed.
“There is one more thing in this Three Seas Initiative. Federalization is federalization, German-Russian-French interests are German-Russian-French interests, but there is one more, more important thing: this is what distinguishes the Three Seas countries from the largely rotten Western Europe, this applies to Italy to the least extent, that they are still based to a large extent on the foundations of Latin civilization, Christian civilization. If not Latin, then Christian, because not everyone is from the same circle, but Christian, and they are based on values that result from Christianity, values that not only Western Europe has largely abandoned and is abandoning, but is even fighting these values. And this is another thing and another great opportunity for the Three Seas countries, including Poland in particular. That is why I regret all the more what is happening now, because even today the Three Seas Initiative still has a great chance to exist, and on a global, world level” – he explained.
In the opinion of Prof. Czarnek, such problems as have arisen in the last dozen or so days, or two or three weeks, have not occurred for a long time. World problems. “The situation in which we have the presidency of the European Union, if it were the Italian presidency, all these formal, informal summits of EU countries, but with the invitation of other countries as well, would take place in Rome. The Italians would use their chance and make Rome the centre of the world again, where global problems are solved, which everyone in the world is looking at, especially Europeans, but everyone in the world. We have the presidency, as Poland, and no summit has taken place, not even an informal one, and our Tusk goes to London, Brussels, Turkey and he would not even think about inviting someone here, as the leader of the country that has the presidency of the European Union, just because he is fighting with President Andrzej Duda. And yet, if it were a normal prime minister, taking care of the interests of the Polish state in the European Union, and through this also of the interests of the Three Seas countries, which is a great opportunity for Poland, this would be the moment when the Three Seas could really focus on Warsaw and be the centre of solving these problems, dramatic problems that appear every day” – he analyzed.
Common army as a tool for building a European superstate
Why does the European Union need a common army? Prof. Czarnek has no doubts: “All of these countries that want to have a common army are in NATO. It is enough to arm themselves within NATO and submit to NATO command to defend themselves against aggression from anyone, including Russia. This is not an attempt to defend Europe, an attempt to defend the countries of the European Union. This is a political attempt to create a unified European state. This is the real reason for all these attempts to create a common army. We can never allow this”.
When asked what he would like to fix in the EU, Prof. Przemysław Czarnek replied: “The matter is extremely simple. It is as simple as our Polish reality. There is nothing to fix in the European Union, apart from possibly slightly correcting the treaties towards more unambiguous provisions, including eliminating this stupid provision that is heading towards common law, i.e. case law precedents, because there is such a provision in the treaties that certain principles of the Union’s operation are based on principles created by the case law of the European Court of Justice. This is a loophole that leads us to common law case law. This must be eliminated. No precedents”.
The lawyer reminded that the European Court of Justice is simply a court that is supposed to observe the treaty, and not create the legal reality of the European Union. “This must be eliminated, because today the greatest threat is the creativity of the Court of Justice of the European Union, which is also not the creativity of the judges themselves. Theirs too, but because they are elected as a result of political elections, and not any other, there is no independent court and independent judges – these are simply people elected by politicians of the Member States – so they must be deprived of the possibility of creating law based on case law, because then we really are in total fog, we do not know where we are and what they will come up with in the CJEU” – he pointed out.
“But in fact, when the conservatives – I think it’s not long now, I hope – will have a majority in the European Parliament, that is, a majority in the governments of the member states, in the majorities of the parliaments of the member states, then only one thing needs to be done: to go back to the treaties and put in jail all those who exceeded their powers and failed to fulfil their obligations within this European Union, encroaching on the competences of the member states and violating the fundamental principles, one could say constitutional, the fundamental principles of the European Union. That’s all. We need to go back to the beginning” – he added.
The constitutionalist recalled why the European Union was established: “And then we always know that it is needed – it was established so that peace could reign in this part of the world after the dramas and tragedies of the mid-20th century. The European Union was not established to defend itself against someone from the outside. The EU was established to defend itself against itself, against the countries of the European Union – so that the Germans would not attack Poland, so that the Germans would not attack France, so that France would not have to defend itself against the Germans, so that some would not cooperate with others against others on a war footing. Peace inside, not outside”.
“In this sense, we are in NATO to defend ourselves from the outside, and we are here to develop economically, to create prosperity for everyone. But this requires following the path of law, and not some cases of common law case law created for the political needs of the stronger Germans or French. This must be done, those who are violating European Union law today must be put to jail” – he summed up and announced: “In this sense, I can be the Minister of Justice”.
Anna Wiejak
The entire panel + interview are available at the links: