Tusk defends overhaul of Poland's constitutional court despite protests

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in a televised address on Saturday evening, 31 October, that his government will continue its contested overhaul of the country's constitutional court, declaring that "in certain matters, there can be no compromise". Protests took place at the court's building in Warsaw the night before, and riot police were sent to protect it. The confrontation sets out the battle lines ahead of next year's parliamentary election.

Background

The constitutional court has been paralysed for more than a decade and was at the centre of rule-of-law clashes between the rightwing Law and Justice (PiS) party and the EU during the party's eight years in power. Since returning to office in 2023, the centre-right Tusk has sought to unwind those judicial changes, but opposition-aligned presidents with extensive veto powers have frustrated his agenda. Earlier this year, President Karol Nawrocki refused to swear in five judges approved by parliament.

On Friday, a group of government-backed judges tried to take procedural control of the tribunal by suspending its PiS-appointed chief judge and deputy. This prompted street protests.

Tusk's argument

Tusk said there had never been any doubt that the court in the form imposed by PiS was not a genuine court, citing adverse rulings from European tribunals. He said that for years some organisations and politicians in Poland have sought to destroy democracy and the rule of law, and noted that Russia's former president Dmitry Medvedev had joined the opposition outcry, accusing Warsaw of "a constitutional coup". Tusk also criticised Nawrocki for joining Friday's protests and entering the court building to intervene.

Doubts over legality

Experts are divided over whether the government's procedural move is lawful. Poland's Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights said the legal basis for the temporary suspension was "questionable". Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski conceded the events outside the court were "not elegant", but argued the alternative was to accept an unconstitutional transformation of Poland into a presidential republic. Nawrocki held cross-party talks on Saturday with no apparent breakthrough, while his senior aide Zbigniew Bogucki called Tusk "a pathological liar".