Polish President Nawrocki accuses Prime Minister Tusk of court takeover

Warsaw, Oct 31 (Reuters) – President Karol Nawrocki said Prime Minister Donald Tusk orchestrated a takeover of the Constitutional Tribunal after the court’s president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, was suspended. The tribunal’s longest-serving judge, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, announced the suspension on Friday, placing Swieczkowski in charge of the court.

Nawrocki, an ally of the previous nationalist administration, issued a statement outside the court on Saturday, describing the incident as a breach of public order and a forcible takeover of a constitutional body. He returned from a trip to Africa to address the situation and called for urgent political consultations.

"This process is difficult, at times even painful, and requires decisive action. There is no other way," Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X, saying his government is working to restore the rule of law, which the European Union has said was undermined by his predecessors.

The dispute over the tribunal dates to 2015, when the Law and Justice party attempted to appoint judges to seats already filled by the prior government, leading to concerns about the court’s independence. After Tusk’s coalition assumed office in 2023, it pledged reforms, but President Nawrocki has blocked several of those efforts since his election in 2025, including refusing to swear in three of six judges nominated by parliament.

Parliament recently appointed Maciej Berek, a Tusk ally, to the tribunal, a move criticized for potentially weakening the government’s stated goal of restoring checks and balances.