Poland's prime minister rejects idea that Poland may be heading towards EU exit

Critics of the right-wing nationalist government fear the court ruling could lead to “Polexit,” or Poland being forced to leave the EU over an apparent rejection of the bloc’s laws and values.

Thousands of people in Warsaw filled Castle Square in the historic center, with some chanting, “We are staying!"

But Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, denied on Monday that his government wants to take Poland out of the European Union, or do a “Polexit,” saying it was completely untrue and a “harmful myth.”

• Polish court rules country's constitution trumps EU law

Morawiecki was reacting to the massive nationwide protests a day earlier against government policy that critics say could cost Poland its EU membership. The protests were sparked by a top court’s ruling that the Polish Constitution has supremacy over EU law. The case was initiated by Morawiecki who voiced doubts as to the supremacy of the EU’s laws.

Satisfaction

Meanwhile, Donald Tusk, the top opposition leader in Poland and a former EU leader, had urged Poles to turn out, casting the demonstration as an effort to defend Poland’s continued membership in the 27-nation bloc. Addressing a crowd in Warsaw, he expressed satisfaction at the sight of thousands of protesters.

Tusk strongly denounced the actions of the ruling party under leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who has been in conflict with the EU for six years as his party has sought greater control over the courts. The EU views the changes as an erosion of democratic checks and balances.

EU membership is extremely popular in Poland, having brought new freedom to travel and a dramatic economic transformation to the central European nation, which had endured decades of communist rule until 1989.

Speaking to the crowd, Tusk warned that a “pseudo court, a group of people dressed in judge's gowns and on the order of the party's leader, in violation of the Polish constitution, decided to lead our homeland out of the EU.”

“After all, we know very well why they want to leave the European Union, in fact in order to violate citizens’ rights with impunity, to violate democratic principles and to steal without restraint,” Tusk said.

A far-right leader led a small group of counter-protesters who sought to drown out the words of Tusk and other speakers, including 94-year-old woman who fought in the anti-Nazi resistance during World War II.

Kaczynski has denied that he wants Poland to leave the bloc, though top ruling party members have recently used language suggesting that might be their aim.

Polish sovereignty

Jacek Sasin, a prominent ruling party member, called the the idea of Polexit “the invention of a weak opposition that has no other ideas."

The state broadcaster, a mouthpiece for the ruling Law and Justice party, did not show the large crowds and ran headlines that read “Protest against the Polish constitution,” and “Tusk attacks Polish sovereignty."

Large protests also took place in other Polish cities.

Lech Walesa, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his opposition to Poland's communist regime, spoke to a crowd in Gdansk to applause.

Walesa is a frequent critic of the government, which he accuses of destroying many of Poland’s democratic achievements.

The court ruling, which was issued Thursday by a court largely loyal to the nationalist government, marks a challenge to the primacy of EU law.

The prime minister asked for the review after the European Court of Justice ruled in March that Poland’s new regulations for appointing Supreme Court justices could violate EU law and ordered the right-wing government to suspend them.

(With agencies)