Gerichtsstreit in Polen: Tusk: Im Rechtsstaat gilt nicht das Gesetz des Dschungels

The constitutional dispute in Poland has intensified the rifts between the pro-European government camp and the right-conservative President Karol Nawrocki. In a television address on Saturday evening, the Prime Minister Donald Tusk sharply criticized the President's appearance in the courtroom. Nawrocki, in return, received representatives of the parties represented in the Parliament for talks, but without any concrete outcome.

Tusk had initially remained silent all day Saturday. However, in his evening television address, he made it clear. "The rule of law differs from the law of the jungle in that it is not muscles and shamelessness that decide who is right," he said. The Prime Minister alluded to the President's visit to the constitutional court on the night of Saturday, amid protests by demonstrators.

In a video posted by a constitutional judge on social media, it was seen how the former amateur boxer Nawrocki had forcefully pushed his way into the courtroom, even pushing down a judge. "No retreat before an aggressive bludgeon," Tusk continued: "In a rule of law, a judge does not retreat before an aggressive bludgeon, even if it is a delicate woman."

In a rule of law, a politician should not enter the scene of a court to give orders and intimidate the judges. The long-standing power struggle between the two major political camps for the occupancy of the constitutional court came to a head on Friday. The trigger was a notification on the website of the constitutional court. It said that the former President Bogdan Swieczkowski and his deputy had been temporarily relieved of their duties.

Instead, Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska would temporarily manage the court. Since then, supporters of the right-conservative opposition party PiS and other right-wing groups have protested against the replacement of the court president. In his speech, Tusk emphasized that the attack on the constitutional court and its judges was another step of destruction of the rule of law by the PiS and the presidents appointed by it: Andrzej Duda, who served until 2025, and now Karol Nawrocki.

The Prime Minister said he was sure that the constitutional court would soon return to working as it should. He saw it as his government's task to ensure the court's safety and the necessary working conditions. Nawrocki held talks with representatives of several parliamentary factions on Saturday. From the government camp came Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz from the Christian PSL, and Szymon Holownia from Poland 2050.

The factions of Tusk's coalition government and the ruling left decided not to appear at the Presidential Palace. Representatives of both factions indicated that the purpose of the meeting with the President had not been explained in detail. No concrete results were reported. A spokeswoman for the EU Commission said they were closely watching the developments related to the constitutional court.

It was the task of the Polish government to ensure that the court operated in accordance with the Polish constitution and the relevant case law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ).