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‘Waited too long to be intimidated’: Polish PM Donald Tusk says won't ‘back down’ amid top court standoff
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in a TV address on Saturday that the Constitutional Tribunal in its current format isn’t independent.
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Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk vowed to press on with changes at the top court and accused the opposition of stirring up violence in an attempt to destroy the rule of law as the political crisis continued to spiral.
Tusk said in a TV address on Saturday that the Constitutional Tribunal in its current format isn’t independent and his government’s attempts to fix it have been sabotaged by the Law & Justice party and President Karol Nawrocki.
He spoke hours after riot police were deployed in front of the court, and two of its top judges were suspended. Nawrocki turned back his plane en route to Senegal and returned to Warsaw to hold consultations with parliamentary parties on Saturday, which Tusk’s ruling Civic Coalition didn’t attend.
“We have waited too long to be intimidated and to back down now,” Tusk said. “I’m confident that the Constitutional Tribunal will begin to function as it ought to — independently, autonomously, and in accordance with the Constitution.”
The battle over Poland’s top court has pitted the pro-European Union veteran prime minister against the nationalist opposition, which stacked the tribunal with political appointees during its eight years in power. The EU’s top court ruled in 2021 that the tribunal wasn’t independent and impartial in its rulings.
Tusk pledged to restore the rule of law when he won the 2023 parliamentary elections, but has so far failed to deliver on most of the promises with his legislative agenda repeatedly vetoed by the opposition-backed Nawrocki. Facing another vote late next year and rising support for the far right, the prime minister signaled he has lost his patience.
“On certain matters, there can be no compromise,” Tusk said. “Shouting, lies, and brawling cannot — and will not — serve as a source of law in Poland.”
How the conflict eventually shakes out will matter for the rest of the EU as countries including Spain and France are facing general elections in the coming months with far-right parties gaining strength. Tusk has sought to keep Poland in the bloc’s mainstream and has overseen the economy that’s on the cusp of becoming one of the 20 biggest in the world. Nawrocki, a former boxer and relative political novice, has the backing of US President Donald Trump.
Footage published on social media showed the president arriving at the court early Saturday, just after midnight, and forced his way into the building past a group of judges who tried to bar his entry. Tusk said the judges were attacked.
“In a state governed by the rule of law, a politician cannot enter a court or tribunal to issue orders or intimidate judges — not even if that politician is the president,” Tusk said, adding “might and boorishness do not determine who is right.”
Nawrocki’s foreign policy aide, Marcin Przydacz, called Tusk’s speech “confrontational” and said it will only serve to “sharpen social tensions. It reflects the prime minister’s fear, as he knows what consequences he will face in the future for breaking the law,” he told Bloomberg.
The top court has been paralyzed by the ongoing disputes. While parliament has filled vacancies for most of the judges, tribunal chief Bogdan Swieczkowski won’t recognize them and the president has refused to accept their oaths of office. Meanwhile, the government doesn’t publish the court’s rulings.
Neither the president nor the leader of the biggest opposition party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, spoke after Nawrocki’s consultations with parties. Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak Kamysz, who heads a junior party in the four-way ruling coalition, said the country needed “a constitutional reset.”
“In the current situation, this is the only chance to gradually restore normalcy surrounding the Constitutional Tribunal,” he said on X.
