Tusk Presses Ahead With Tribunal Reform Amid Second Night of Protests

Warsaw politics have turned volatile as the government moves to restructure the Constitutional Tribunal. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Saturday that his administration would continue its work to restore judicial independence, even as hundreds of demonstrators returned to the streets for a second consecutive night.

The dispute centers on the recent suspension of Tribunal president Bogdan Święczkowski. The pro-European government states that Święczkowski repeatedly broke the law and blocked judges elected by the parliamentary majority from taking their posts. Critics, including the opposition party Law and Justice, call the move a coup d’etat. Święczkowski became head of the court during the previous PiS government, which led Poland from 2015 to 2023.

Tensions escalated on Friday evening when President Karol Nawrocki interrupted his trip to Senegal and flew back to Poland. He arrived at the Tribunal despite the chaos and said he helped the suspended president enter the building. Police detained three protesters that night after some threw objects at officers and attempted to breach the security fence around the court.

Tusk wrote on X on Friday evening that restoring the rule of law is the government's obligation. He noted that the process is difficult and painful after years of what he called lawlessness under PiS, adding that it requires decisive action. The government, a broad coalition including the Civic Coalition, the Left, Poland 2050, and the Polish People’s Party, has faced vetoes from two successive presidents aligned with PiS regarding judicial reforms.

Marcin Przydacz, a senior aide to President Nawrocki, told the Associated Press that the country is facing a massive constitutional crisis resulting from an illegal attempt to take over the institution. He said the president invited all parliamentary parties to talks on Saturday to find a solution. Representatives of Poland 2050 and the PSL, along with several opposition parties, met with Nawrocki on Saturday, while Tusk stayed away from the discussion.

The president’s camp hopes the crisis will weaken Tusk’s parliamentary majority. Przydacz stated that everything depends on the political parties that have supported Tusk so far. The standoff is expected to deepen political polarization in Poland in the year leading up to the next parliamentary election.

Speaking on Saturday night, Tusk compared PiS to a man who steals an elderly woman’s purse and then claims to be the victim when police retrieve it. He described PiS’s response to the suspension, including the attempts to forcefully enter the Tribunal, as another stage in the process of destroying the rule of law.