Poland PM Tusk and President Nawrocki Agree to Meet Amid Constitutional Tribunal Crisis
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Karol Nawrocki agreed to hold a face-to-face meeting to resolve a severe institutional crisis over the control of the Constitutional Tribunal. The breakthrough follows an intense five-hour National Security Council meeting where the head of state accused the head of government of committing a crime against the constitution.
Ultimatum Issued Before Independence Day
President Nawrocki set a deadline for the prime minister to “enter in reason” before Poland’s Independence Day on November 11. The president stated he would use all his prerogatives if the government did not reverse course. Tusk proposed the upcoming private meeting to bypass public posturing and prevent further escalation.
“Espero que el primer ministro entre en razón, rectifique y devuelva los asuntos de Polonia a los polacos,” Nawrocki declared during the security council session, after the head of state also accused the prime minister before the cameras and participants of taking a Polish state institution by force on the eve of a holiday and attempting to restore the rule of law through methods that blatantly violate the law.
Tusk countered that the executive branch holds a fundamental duty to defend the tribunal and the working conditions of its judges, adding that nobody in the executive branch has the right to violently break into the tribunal premises as the president did.
Judges Approve Budget and Form Disciplinary Committee Amid Leadership Dispute
The institutional standoff centers on competing interpretations of judicial legitimacy within the tribunal. Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska assumed leadership of the tribunal on Friday after suspending President Bogdan Swieczkowski and Vice President Bartlomiej Sochanski. An emergency general assembly convened on Tuesday with eight of the fifteen magistrates in attendance.
The participating judges included five magistrates whose appointments Nawrocki has refused to swear in. The assembly approved the tribunal budget and established a disciplinary committee to review the immunity of the suspended leaders. Meanwhile, a separate assembly called at the Supreme Court failed to achieve quorum.
Protests Outside State Buildings
Demonstrators gathered outside the presidential palace carrying candles and lanterns to protest the president’s actions. Simultaneously, sympathizers of the right demonstrated outside the tribunal building, asserting that the government had carried out a coup d’état by taking control of the tribunal.
Tusk maintained that the face-to-face talks will occur without advance notice to the press to encourage an unvarnished dialogue. The November 11 national holiday approaches amid ongoing demonstrations and heightened polarization across Warsaw, while it remains open whether the planned private meeting between the prime minister and the president will take place before the deadline or succeed in resolving the standoff.