Poland's president holds crisis talks as top court standoff deepens

Nawrocki said in a statement that he convened the “urgent” consultations “due to the threat to Poland’s internal security” presented by the sudden suspension on Friday of the Constitutional Tribunal’s chief judge, Bogdan Swieczkowski. No breakthrough had emerged by Saturday afternoon.

The Constitutional Tribunal is Poland’s top court for deciding constitutional matters. It has been at the centre of a years-long political saga related to the politicisation of Polish courts, which Tusk says began under the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government.

In a Saturday evening speech addressing the ongoing crisis, Tusk accused conservative nationalist opposition leaders of wanting to “destroy democracy and rule of law”. “Let’s call things by their name,” he said. “For years in Poland there exist organisations and politicians who wish to destroy democracy and rule of law.”

Swieczkowski, whom PiS appointed during its 2015-2023 government, was accused of using his powers as head of the court to block parliament from electing new judges. Tusk argued that the court’s judges were not politically neutral and that Swieczkowski’s removal was a “painful” but necessary decision to restore the rule of law in Poland after years of erosion under PiS rule.

The court’s official X account on Friday described the government’s move as a “coup d’etat”. Nawrocki, a right-wing figure, has also blocked nominations to the court under his administration. A key complaint brought by Tusk and his pro-European party was that the court’s PiS-aligned judges frequently ruled in favour of Polish legislation over EU law.

The European Commission on Saturday urged Nawrocki to accept the nomination of new judges at the centre of the country’s constitutional crisis, the AFP news agency reported. US Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose called for calm on all sides. “The last thing Poland needs is a confrontation that spirals into something far worse,” Rose wrote in a post on X.