Euthanasia, Gay Marriages and Sovereignty: Polish Ratification of the Lisbon Treaty

Abstract

On 10 October 2009 the President Lech Kaczynski signed the Ratification Act of the Lisbon Treaty, thereby concluding a long and painful ratification process in Poland. The President waited for the result of the second Irish referendum, despite the fact that the Polish Parliament ratified the Treaty already in April 2008. This comment discusses ratification of the Lisbon Treaty in Poland and it has the following structure. Firstly, it briefly discusses the literature on the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, which multiplied after the Irish veto in June 2009. Secondly, the constitutional procedure concerning ratification of international agreements by Poland is briefly introduced. Then, the article outlines the conflict among the main (parliamentary and non-parliamentary) political forces up until the beginning of April 2008 and the ratification of the Treaty by the Polish Parliament. This period marks the first phase of the ratification procedure. The Irish veto in June 2008 initiated a second phase, because then the President decided to put the Polish ratification process on hold. Finally, the comment identifies some of the major aspects of the dispute over the ratification, such as the role of the controversial Radio Maryja.