Tusk defends suspension of Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal president amid protests

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Saturday that his government would press ahead with efforts to restore the independence of Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal, as hundreds of protesters gathered for a second night against the suspension of the court’s president.

The pro-European government said the suspension is necessary to restore judicial independence, while critics from the opposition have likened it to a “coup d’etat.”

President Karol Nawrocki — who opposes the pro-European government — turned back his plane during a flight to Senegal on Friday evening and returned home. On Friday night, he made his way to the Constitutional Tribunal despite the chaos and said he helped the suspended court president enter the building.

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Police said they detained three protesters on Friday night after some threw objects at officers and tried to break through the security fence around the court.

The dispute over the long-embattled Constitutional Tribunal is likely to deepen political polarization in Poland a year before a parliamentary election, further intensifying the standoff between the pro-European government and the national-conservative opposition party Law and Justice, or PiS.

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Critics in Poland and the European Union accuse PiS, which led the country between 2015 and 2023, of imposing political control over key judicial institutions. Reforms introduced under the PiS government prompted the EU to impose fines on Poland.

Tusk’s pro-European government came to power in 2023 with a promise to restore the independence of the judiciary. Since then, its efforts have been blocked by vetoes from two successive presidents aligned with PiS, including Nawrocki.

“Restoring the rule of law is our obligation,” Tusk wrote on X on Friday evening. “After years of lawlessness under PiS this is a difficult process, sometimes painful and it requires decisive action. There is no other way.”

Tusk had earlier pledged that his government would ensure the tribunal was again staffed with lawfully appointed judges while acknowledging that his methods may not be to everyone’s liking.

The functioning of the Constitutional Tribunal had been impaired for years. The Court of Justice of the European Union, the EU’s top court, had said it was no longer an impartial court after PiS appointments. Even after Tusk took power, efforts to balance the court were hampered by Nawrocki and the tribunal’s president, Bogdan Swieczkowski.

On Friday evening, the Constitutional Tribunal’s website announced the suspension of Swieczkowski. Shortly after, the protesters — including PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński and far-right politicians — began rallying outside the building.

The government says Swieczkowski repeatedly broke the law and jeopardized the tribunal’s work. Swieczkowski became head of the court under the former PiS government. Tusk has accused him of blocking judges elected by the parliamentary majority from taking up their posts at the tribunal.

“Since last night, we’re dealing with a massive constitutional crisis in Poland, the result of an illegal, forceful attempt to take over an important institution,” Marcin Przydacz, a top aide to the Polish president, told The Associated Press.

Przydacz said that the president had invited all parliamentary parties to talks on Saturday in an effort to defuse tensions and find a solution to the crisis.

The government is a broad coalition made up of Tusk’s centrist Civic Coalition, the Left, and two more conservative groupings, Poland 2050 and the Polish People’s Party, or PSL. Representatives of Poland 2050 and PSL, along with several opposition parties, met with Nawrocki on Saturday, while Tusk didn’t attend.

The president’s camp is hoping that the crisis surrounding the Constitutional Tribunal will erode Tusk’s parliamentary majority.

“Everything depends on those political parties who supported Donald Tusk so far,” Przydacz said.

Speaking on Saturday night, Tusk compared PiS to a man who steals an elderly woman’s purse and then claims to be the victim when police catch him and take it back.

PiS’ response to the suspension of Swieczkowski, including the attempts to forcefully enter the Tribunal on Friday, represents “another stage in the process of destroying the rule of law in Poland” by PiS and the president, Tusk said.

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