Tusk Vows to Finish Overhaul of Poland's Top Court

Poland's prime minister, Donald Tusk, says he will see through a contested overhaul of the constitutional court, and that "in certain matters, there can be no compromise".

What happened at the court

On Friday, a group of government-backed judges tried to take procedural control of the tribunal. They suspended the chief judge and the deputy, both appointed under the Law and Justice (PiS) party. Street protests followed, and riot police were sent to guard the court building overnight.

President Karol Nawrocki joined the protests on Friday night. Tusk accuses him of forcing his way into the building to intervene.

Tusk's answer

Tusk spoke in a prime-time television address on Saturday. He said the court in the form imposed by PiS was never a genuine court, and he pointed to adverse rulings from European tribunals.

He likened the opposition's outrage to "a thief snatching an elderly woman's handbag, running off, and when he is caught, he screams that he is subjected to violence". He also noted that Russia's former president Dmitry Medvedev had joined the outcry, accusing Warsaw of a constitutional coup.

Tusk also said that for years some organisations and politicians in Poland had sought to destroy democracy and the rule of law. That they found support among pro-Russian forces globally, he said, was no coincidence.

On the president's entry into the building, Tusk said no politician can enter a court to issue orders or intimidate judges, not even the president.

The European Commission, on Saturday, urged Nawrocki to approve the judges nominated by parliament so that the court could function as the constitution and EU law require.

Years of dispute

The court has been paralysed for more than a decade. It sat at the centre of rule-of-law clashes between PiS and the EU during the party's eight years in power. Tusk returned to office in 2023 and has tried to unwind those changes. His plans have been blocked by opposition-aligned presidents with wide veto powers. Earlier this year Nawrocki refused to swear in five judges approved by parliament.

Is it lawful?

Experts are divided. The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights called the legal basis for the temporary suspension questionable. It warned the step would not contribute to restoring the court.

Foreign minister Radosław Sikorski admitted the scenes outside the court were not elegant. He argued the alternative was to concede an unconstitutional transformation of Poland into a presidential republic.

Nawrocki held cross-party talks on Saturday with no apparent breakthrough. His aide Zbigniew Bogucki called Tusk a pathological liar who is setting Poland ablaze.

Our View

The dispute may shape the campaign for next year's parliamentary election, where polls point to a close race between Tusk's coalition and the nationalist right. How courts and the EU treat the suspension could matter as much as the street politics.

Source: the Guardian