The Court of Justice of the European Union shall examine hundreds of cases relating to the application of Union law each year. More and more of them are procedures related to Poland. peculiar attention is paid to mortgages, both abroad currency and gold based on WIBOR.
About 900 cases go to the TSUE all year. Most of these are preliminary questions, namely questions addressed by national courts, which have doubts about the explanation of European Union law. Poland belongs to countries whose courts usage this procedure very often. 47 specified questions were referred to the Court in 2024. Only Italy and Germany submitted more. Between 2020 and 2024 Polish courts submitted a full of 209 inquiries.
Consumer protection issues, mainly relating to frank loans, are of top interest. The Court has already issued respective judgments in these cases. Most are interpreted as beneficial to borrowers. The TEU considered, inter alia, that the bank could not claim repayment of the full amount of credit if part of the commitment had already been repaid. It besides confirmed the consumer's right to full compensation after the cancellation of the contract and the anticipation to apply for statutory interest for delay. The Court besides referred to a regulation on the exercise of the right of detention by banks.
The judgement of 22 January 2026 in Case C-902/24 is besides important. The CJEU confirmed that the deduction of common claims by the bank and the consumer could be compatible with Union law. At the same time, the Court pointed out that the bank could not claim interest for hold before the contract was declared invalid. It was besides stressed that the effectiveness of the deduction depends on national rules.
The fresh area of dispute is mortgage loans based on the WIBOR indicator. The first ruling in this case is expected on 12 February. The procedure concerns the question of the territory Court in Czestochowa, which wants to find whether the provisions of credit agreements relating to WIBOR can be considered as unfair contractual terms. akin cases are besides under way concerning the transparency of contracts, the degree of the risks incurred by borrowers and the way in which the benchmark is established.
Polish cases in the TEU are not limited to consumer disputes. Last year the European Commission sent respective proceedings against Poland to the Court. These included, inter alia, exceeding the permissible air contamination standards and deficiencies in climate policy documents. On the another hand, Poland has challenged any of the provisions of the Fit for 55 package to the TEU, including regulations on the emissions trading strategy or the planned ban on the registration of fresh combustion cars since 2035.
The Court of Justice of the European Union has a key function in the EU legal system. Its task is to guarantee uniform application of Union law and to resolve disputes between associate States and Union institutions. The institution has been active since 1952 and consists of 2 bodies: the Court of Justice and the Court of the European Union. The Court shall comprise 27 Judges, 1 from each associate State, and 11 Advocates-General. The European Union Court has 54 judges.
The importance of TEU judgments for Poland is great. The judgments of the Court affect the case law of national courts and the situation of millions of citizens. This is peculiarly actual of credit cases, which have become 1 of the most crucial legal and economical topics in the country in fresh years.