EC federalisation plans threaten sovereignty of states - Ordo Iuris at the ECR meeting

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· Representatives of the Ordo Iuris Institute took part in the meeting of the European Conservatives and Reformists Working Group on Institutional Reform.

· The presentation concerned, e.g. the eurozone, social rights, family law, competition law and consequences of the Next Generation EU reconstruction funds.

· The experts showed that the European Union aspires to create a federal state, deeply interfering in the functioning of member states also in matters beyond its competence and thus violating EU law.

· As one of the examples of the most serious interference of the European Union in the functioning of a Member State, they pointed to the obligation to recognise adoptions performed in another country by same-sex couples or the necessity to accept the so-called same-sex marriages registered in another Member State.

The report was presented by the Ordo Iuris vice-president, Tymoteusz Zych, PhD, the deputy director of the Centre for International Law, Katarzyna Gęsiak, attorney at law, and the analyst of the Centre for Legislative Analyses, Apl. Weronika Przebierała, trainee attorney at law.  The experts drew attention to, for example, the effects of participation in the eurozone in the light of changes in the GDP per capita of a given member state. The analysis shows that countries such as France, Spain, Greece, Portugal and Italy have lost out by entering the eurozone. Italy was particularly affected, with its GDP per capita deteriorating by almost 19 percentage points after 20 years of participation in the eurozone.

The topic of social rights was also raised during the presentation. The experts pointed out that certain drafts of normative acts of the European Commission deprive countries of the possibility of implementing their own plan for social and economic development. These include the EC draft directive on adequate minimum wages. The Commission recommends that all countries define the criteria for updating the minimum wage and that it should be at least 50% of the average salary in a given country. The Commission recommends that all countries define the criteria for updating the minimum wage and that it should be at least 50% of the average salary in a given country.

Ordo Iuris lawyers analysed also the Posting of Workers Directive, according to which, after 12 months, a posted worker is equal to a worker of the host country, and thus must be provided with the same conditions of employment. This significantly increases the costs of posting workers for Polish entrepreneurs, who are leaders in the international arena in this respect. In addition, experts raised the issue of the Mobility Package, which introduced regulations strongly interfering in the way entrepreneurs conduct their business.

Threats associated with the selective use of legal tools available to the European Commission concern, inter alia, competition law. As an example, experts pointed to the Nord Stream 2 project, the functioning of which will strengthen Gazprom's position on the market, and thus is not in the interest of the entire European Union, including Poland. In spite of this, the European Commission, as the EU competition authority, is not exercising its powers in this case.

The Commission's actions, which are incompatible with the Treaties, also relate to its interference in substantive family law, which contradicts not only the Treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, but also numerous positions of the CJEU. In April of this year, the EC announced the start of work on a regulation on the 'recognition of parenthood between Member States'. Its aim is to accept adoptions made in another country by same-sex couples. The consequence of adopting this regulation will be forcing Poland to recognise the 'parenthood' of same-sex couples, despite the fact that national law does not allow it.

Other speakers at the meeting included ECR MEPs. Michael Michiel Hoogeveen from the Netherlands, Cristian Terheș from Romania and Ladislav Ilčić from Croatia also highlighted the problems addressed by Ordo Iuris and praised the report prepared by experts.