The Commission supports the Sejm
The European Commission clearly supports the center-right government of Donald Tusk by reaffirming the Polish parliament’s right to appoint eight new judges to the Constitutional Tribunal on November 1. A spokesperson told the Kyiv Independent that "the appointment of eight new members of the Constitutional Tribunal lies within the constitutional power of the Sejm." This follows the Law and Justice Party government’s attempt to place the judiciary under political control, an action that caused the EU to initiate a legal procedure against Warsaw in 2017. The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights also issued interim measures which obliges competent Polish authorities to refrain from hindering the taking up and exercise of judicial duties by judges appointed by the Sejm. Backsliding in Poland and Hungary under Viktor Orban led the EU to introduce annual rule-of-law reviews and demand much stricter safeguards from countries like Ukraine wishing to join the bloc.
A political standoff in Warsaw
The domestic standoff intensified on October 30 when the most senior of the eight new appointees took charge of the Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw. President Karol Nawrocki, who hails from the Law and Justice Party, refused to hear the newly appointed judges swear their oaths in an attempt to turn what is usually a procedural step into a permanent block on the appointees being able to begin work. This move caused a standoff between the police and PiS politicians and supporters, including various parties positioned further to the right of the current administration. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the PiS leader who masterminded the politicization of the Constitutional Tribunal, accused Tusk’s government of turning Poland into a police state and called for continued protests. Kaczynski wrote on X that "from today, Poland is becoming a police state, and from there it’s a straight path to authoritarianism, and then to totalitarianism." Radoslaw Sikorski explained via social media on October 31 that the "populist opposition is unfortunately refusing to accept its loss of control over the Tribunal" after their defeat. Sikorski stated the democratically elected government will continue to "uphold the constitution" to resolve the current legal crisis in Poland and maintain judicial independence.
