KRAKOW, POLAND - FEBRUARY 09: A hand gesticulates next to a Polish and European Union flag during a protest against the recently signed judiciary law by the Polish President Andrezj Duda at the Main Square on February 9, 2020 in Krakow, Poland. The so-called "muzzle law", allow the Law and Justice (PiS) government to discipline judges who question its judicial changes. The new draft order of the Vice-President of the Court of Justice of the European Union may impose two million euros fine a day in Poland if it "does not freeze" the activities of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court - Rzeczpospolita Polish daily newspaper reported yesterday. (Photo by Omar Marques/Getty Images)
, Photographer: Omar Marques/Getty Images Europe
(Bloomberg) -- Poland’s top court ruled that the country’s constitution overrides some European Union laws, escalating a conflict over democratic standards that endangers the government’s ability to access 36 billion euros ($42 billion) in pandemic aid.
The judgment could be used by Poland’s government to bypass common rules that underpin the functioning of the 27-nation bloc and follows years of increasingly bitter disputes over the independence of courts, media freedom and LGBTQ rights.
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