Are the Constitutionalization and the Europeanization of Private Law Proceeding Symmetrically in Poland?

What is it about?

The chapter presents diverse possible approaches to defining the phenomena of the constitutionalization and Europeanization of private law. One can perceive constitutionalization and Europeanization as processes transforming the EU into a constitutional union, rather than only an international or administrative union. One can also look at these processes as implementing EU law, human rights, and fundamental rights and policies into the domestic private law of Poland. What emerges in the first case is complex, united, and parallel processes of cultural, social, and legal unification. In the latter case, there is much narrower harmonization encompassing the application, implementation, and enforcement of EU law for the benefit of all citizens, consumers, and businesses as parties to civil law relations. Since these parallel processes in Poland have not been smooth in recent years, the differences are by no means of merely theoretical importance. The article analyzes the problems of parallel constitutionalization and Europeanization of private law, steps taken towards implementing EU law in Poland, the interpretation of EU law, and its application by the Polish judiciary. The conclusions indicate that different points of view may lead to different conclusions on the symmetry and parallelism of the processes of the constitutionalization and Europeanization of private law in Poland.

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