Unlock Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, editor-in-chief of the FT, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Poland’s fight for the rule of law intensified Friday evening after the suspension of the president of the country’s constitutional court and his deputy, a move that threatens a new political crisis in the country.
President Karol Nawrocki, who was traveling to Senegal on an official visit, responded by ordering his plane to turn around and return to Warsaw. After visiting the court overnight, Nawrocki called an emergency meeting of party leaders Saturday afternoon to “restore constitutional order.”
Nawrocki, candidate of the right-wing opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, is engaged in a bitter conflict with Prime Minister Donald Tusk over the composition of the Constitutional Court.
The president of the court, Bogdan Święczkowski, was suspended by a fellow judge, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, who announced that she would temporarily take over her position.
She urged Nawrocki and others not to further escalate the conflict, but Święczkowski denounced her suspension as “a coup.” His deputy Bartłomiej Sochański was also suspended.
PiS founder Jarosław Kaczyński and other right-wing politicians joined protesters in front of the Constitutional Court building in central Warsaw on Friday evening.
Police entered the court to secure the premises and also arrested three protesters outside.
Tusk defended the suspension of two of the country’s highest judges as part of his efforts to restore the rule of law in Poland – a central pledge of his 2023 election campaign, which ended eight years of PiS rule.
During its two terms in office, PiS overhauled the justice system by appointing its own people to the Constitutional Court and other judicial bodies, sparking a protracted conflict with Brussels.
The European Commission has frozen billions in EU funds intended for Poland over concerns about the independence of the judiciary.
“Restoring the rule of law is our duty,” Tusk said on X on Friday evening. “After years of PiS-led anarchy, this is a difficult, sometimes painful process that requires decisive action. There is no other way out.”
The decision to suspend the president of the Constitutional Court comes as Tusk’s pro-European Civic Coalition and PiS prepare for tense parliamentary elections next year, in which neither party is expected to gain an absolute majority.
Szymon Hołownia, founder of the Poland 2050 party, one of Tusk’s ruling coalition partners, said on Saturday that the events “shame Poland” and play into the hands of Moscow.
“The events… will deprive us of millions of dollars of investments. Poland needs peace today, not war! It needs conversation, not quarrels,” he said on X.
Tom Rose, the US ambassador to Poland, warned that “the last thing Poland needs is a confrontation that escalates into something much worse.”
He added on X: “We appear to be witnessing an unprecedented confrontation over the government’s use of state power and the independence and authority of a constitutional institution. Both sides are offering very different versions of what happened and why.”
The confrontation between Tusk and Nawrocki over appointments to the Constitutional Court has intensified in recent months.
In April, Nawrocki refused to swear in four judges on the parliament-elected court, where Tusk’s coalition government holds a majority, saying their selection had been wrong.
Last month, Nawrocki vetoed another appointment to the court, accusing Tusk of seeking to politicize the justice system because the judge, Maciej Berek, had previously served in the prime minister’s government.
Tusk then warned that he would use “all methods” to overcome Nawrocki’s veto and allow the elected judges to work.
Gn headline
