EU Commission: Appointing Eight Polish Constitutional Tribunal Judges Is Up to the Sejm

The European Commission, the European Union's executive body, said on Saturday it was closely monitoring the crisis surrounding Poland's Constitutional Tribunal. The trigger was a confrontation outside the court building on Friday night, broadcast live on television. The incident has renewed attention on a dispute over the composition of Poland's top constitutional court that has lasted more than a decade.

A Commission spokesperson told Euronews that the Polish authorities must ensure the Tribunal can function in line with the Polish constitution and the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union. According to the spokesperson, appointing eight new Tribunal members falls within the constitutional power of the Sejm, Poland's parliament. The spokesperson also cited a 5 May ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, which issued interim measures requiring Polish authorities not to hinder judges appointed by the Sejm in March 2026 from taking up and exercising their duties.

Tusk: calm does not mean lawlessness

Prime Minister Donald Tusk gave his first major response to the crisis in a televised address on Saturday evening. He called Friday's events scandalous incidents and said he hoped such scenes would never be repeated in Poland. Restoring calm, he said, could not mean accepting lawlessness or violence, and he pledged to restore conditions for independent justice and the rule of law.

The crisis escalated on Friday night when President Karol Nawrocki tried to enter the Tribunal building amid a deadlock over the appointment of new judges. Police surrounded the building. Tusk's government says it is pursuing long-needed reforms to restore the rule of law after years of what it describes as interference in the judiciary by the Law and Justice (PiS) party. The opposition accuses the government of attempting a coup.

Conservative criticism

The co-chairs of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group condemned the government's actions as a violation of the rule of law and backed President Nawrocki. ECR co-chair Nicola Procaccini urged European institutions not to "avert their eyes".

The dispute over the Tribunal's legitimacy dates back to 2015, when the then-governing Civic Platform and the opposition Law and Justice party clashed over the appointment of five judges. It has since grown into a wider conflict over judicial independence, the Tribunal's composition and the authority of its rulings.