European justice rules on discrimination against homosexuals

by time news

The decision of the Luxembourg Court of Justice is the culmination of years of tension between Warsaw and the European Union.

The Court of Justice of the European Union is due to rule on Thursday January 12 on discrimination linked to homosexuality in Poland. In recent years, several decisions of the Polish Constitutional Court on new laws have been coldly received by Brussels. The EU has accused the conservative government (PiS, the Law and Justice party) of carrying out a discriminatory policy towards the LGBT community. The legal standoff between Warsaw and the European Commission will experience one of its epilogues this Thursday.

Tensions heightened since 2015

«There have been disputes between Poland and the European Union over the LGBT issue for a number of years, even long before the conservative party came to power in 2015explains historian Max-Erwann Gastineau, a specialist in international relations. “In 2007, the ECHR had already condemned Poland because it had prohibited homosexual activists from organizing a Pride March“, he recalls.

However, the situation took a new turn when the conservatives came to power in 2015. They have never hidden the fact that they are leading a real cultural battle against the progressive ideals of the European Commission.

In 2019, the Polish Constitutional Court, for example, took a court decision that was hotly contested in Western Europe: it authorized merchants to refuse customers belonging to the LGBT community in the name of their religious beliefs. This decision was the culmination of a story that began in 2016 when a printer refused to print the posters of an LGBT association. According to him, these helped to promote a fight that he disapproved of.

A year later, in 2020, Commission President Ursula Van der Leyen, in her State of the Union address, emphasized the role of the EU in defending LGBT rights. “The Commission will soon propose a strategy to strengthen the rights of LGBTQI people“, she said.

A few months later, the European Commission finally opened infringement proceedings against Poland for “attacks on the fundamental values ​​of the European Union“. In question ? The creation, by certain Polish local authorities, of «areas free of any LGBT ideology». The formal notice issued by the Union, “deeply concernedwas intended to encourage Poland to renounce these measures deemed to be discriminatory.

Primacy of European law over national law: a thorny issue

The various disapprovals expressed by the EU seek to reaffirm the primacy of Union law over national law, the Commission even qualifying its decisions as “binding on all national authorities and courts».

The role of the CJEU is toensure that EU law is interpreted and applied in the same way in all EU countries“. The Commission relies on Article 2 of the EU Treaty which provides that “respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minoritiesbe recognized by all Member States.

In hollow then appear the strong tensions within the Polish society on the questions related to the community LGBT. The country is divided between a conservative camp in power, which defends a traditional image of the family, and a liberal camp, which approaches the progressive ideas of Western Europe. The Polish conservative camp wishes to defend a national cultural model which opposes each day more strongly to that promoted by the EU.

Gray areas

From a legal point of view, there are also several gray areas. For example, it is difficult to know which fields of competencecome under the EU or come under the nations in social and cultural matters“, points out Max-Erwann Gastineau, who insists on the tensions that this uncertainty can generate.

Certain provisions of European law can also be used by the Polish conservative camp as legal justifications. “Article 2 has also been cited by Polish conservatives to defend the ban on abortion in case of malformation of the fetussays the researcher. The Conservatives claimed to fight against discrimination against the disabled“. Both conservatives and progressives see European texts as legal justifications for their decisions.

“Constant pressure” from the Commission

For the researcher, this decision of the Court of Justice should not be taken in isolation but rather as part of an overall strategy on the part of the European Union. The various sentences or measures pronounced in recent years by European judges have had the effect of maintaining “constant pressurecampaign on the Polish state to obtain developments on LGBT rights.

Conditioning the obtaining of European aid on respect for non-discrimination of LGBT people is the new means of pressure used by Brussels to impose its sovereignty in cultural and social matters. “Polish progressives often refer to Brussels to settle national tensionsexplains Max-Erwann Gastineau. And to conclude:The unifying process initiated by Brussels seeks to create a unitary European people with common values».

You may also like

Leave a Comment