Brussels has warned Poland it will be punished over a recent ruling by the country's constitutional tribunal, which judged some Polish laws override those of the European Union. 

The decision is seen to challenge the legal foundation on which the 27-nation bloc is built, with the EU promising all countries must play by the same rules. 

The Polish court decision has been a lightning rod for growing tensions between the EU and Poland and close ally Hungary as their right-wing nationalist governments push back over LGBT+ rights, judicial independence and media freedom.

It has also sparked concerns about Poland leaving the EU.

Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki appeared at the European Parliament on Tuesday to face questions after the court decision, arguing Poland would not be "blackmailed."

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Morawiecki accused the EU of overstepping its authority and said the ruling had been misunderstood. The Polish ruling has increased tensions between Warsaw and Brussels, leading for calls for EU funding to be withheld until Poland addresses a series of changes in its judicial system, which the EU sees undermining the rule of law. 

The Polish government, however, has described threats to withhold funds as blackmail and continued to insist countries should have sovereignty within the EU – a concept heavily backed by the Hungarian government.

Morawiecki told the parliament: "More and more frequently, decisions are made behind closed doors by European judges. More and more such decisions are made without clear treaty basis, but by way of legal creativity without any control. This phenomenon has been growing, and now we must say 'no,' we must say 'stop.'"

He also proposed an additional chamber should be added to the Court of Justice of the European Union, consisting of judges elected by the constitutional courts of EU countries.

Morawiecki said that, despite the level of trust toward the EU falling to record lows, "over 85 percent of Polish citizens clearly state that Poland is and will remain a member of the Union." He has continued to deny reports of "Polexit," an idea against which hundreds of thousands of people have marched since the court ruling.

Throughout the hours of debate, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was visibly exasperated. She told Morawiecki that Poland's Constitutional Tribunal was "a direct challenge to the unity of the European legal order" and laid out three options in response.

Brussels will first take on the Polish decision through legal action, which could lead to fines. The bloc can also use the conditionality mechanism and other financial tools to withhold funding.

Until the clash between Warsaw and Brussels is resolved, Poland is unlikely to receive any of the billions of dollars in loans the government applied for as part of the EU's COVID-19 recovery budget – but it could go further and block access to other grants assigned in the most recent budget.

As a final step, Poland's voting rights could be suspended. Under Article 7 of the EU's treaties, member states can have the right to vote on EU decisions removed if the member state has breached the core values of the bloc.