Polish president lashes out at court overhaul as judges push back against PiS-era capture
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Poland's president Karol Nawrocki accused Prime Minister Donald Tusk of an illegal power grab over the Constitutional Tribunal, while Tusk defended the overhaul as a necessary step to restore EU-aligned rule of law after years of PiS damage.
Poland's political crisis deepened on Tuesday when President Karol Nawrocki accused Prime Minister Donald Tusk of using the dispute over the Constitutional Tribunal as a pretext for an illegal power grab. The confrontation follows the suspension of the court's president and deputy by Tusk's government and the convening of eight judges elected by the current parliamentary majority, who declared a quorum and resumed the court's work after years of institutional distortion.
"Full responsibility for every police officer outside the tribunal, for all the illegal actions, including suspending judges and issuing unlawful orders, lies with one man who is present in this room — Prime Minister Donald Tusk," Nawrocki said during a televised National Security Council meeting.
"I expect [the prime minister] to rein in his government's ambitions and put an end to the illegal actions of his representatives inside the Constitutional Tribunal," he added.
Tusk responded earlier, urging the president to stop attacking the judges elected by parliament and to allow them to work. He also warned that Moscow was exploiting Poland's internal turmoil and cautioned politicians against becoming "useful idiots" in that campaign.
"The president has a chance, and I hope he takes it, to stop attacking lawfully elected tribunal judges and allow them to work," Tusk told his cabinet.
After the council meeting, Tusk offered Nawrocki a one-on-one discussion to reduce tensions and noted that the situation was stabilising as the tribunal resumed its functions. The eight judges, led by Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, who assumed control of the court after the Friday suspensions, voted to recognise themselves as a quorum and approved the draft budget for 2027, while also initiating disciplinary panels against the suspended PiS-linked judges.
The dispute, rooted in appointments made by the previous Law and Justice (PiS) government, highlights deepening divisions ahead of the 2027 parliamentary election, with nationalist right-wing factions lining up against Tusk's pro-EU stance and the effort to restore democratic legality.