Prime Minister Donald Tusk in an image released with his October 31 address. Photo: KPRM, CC BY 3.0 PL.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk vowed Saturday to protect the Constitutional Tribunal and ensure it could work, rejecting pressure to retreat after a confrontation over the court’s leadership and judges.
In an address published by his office on October 31, Tusk said restoring calm could not mean yielding to what he described as lawlessness and violence. He said the executive branch’s job was to provide security and working conditions for the tribunal, which he said should operate independently, including independently of him.
President Karol Nawrocki offered a sharply different account in a statement earlier Saturday. He described the overnight events as a violation of Poland’s constitutional order and a forcible takeover of a state institution, called for government-deployed enforcement forces to leave the tribunal, and announced urgent consultations with parliamentary parties.
The competing statements concern a dispute over who may exercise authority at the tribunal and whether judges chosen by parliament can take up their duties. Both leaders present their positions as defending the constitution; their statements do not settle the contested legal questions.
Tusk said parliament had elected replacement judges after their predecessors’ terms expired, but that Nawrocki had refused to receive their oaths and tribunal president Bogdan Swieczkowski had blocked them from working. He said police were protecting the judges against attackers. Those were the prime minister’s descriptions of the confrontation.
Nawrocki said he had consulted Supreme Court First President Zbigniew Kapinski, who also considered the actions at the tribunal unlawful. The president said he had enabled tribunal vice president Bartlomiej Sochanski to enter the building and wanted consultations to restore political stability and constitutional order.
Saturday’s address and presidential statement added to the standoff after Friday’s events at the tribunal. Neither statement announced an agreement between the two sides.
JBizNews Desk | Warsaw
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