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Polish Constitutional Crisis Escalates with Police Deployment
· Confirmed
In Short: Polish riot police deployed around the Constitutional Court as Prime Minister Donald Tusk moved to restore the court's independence.
Polish riot police deployed around the Constitutional Court Friday as Prime Minister Donald Tusk moved to restore the court's independence following the removal of President Bogdan Swieczkowski.
The European courts had ruled Poland's Constitutional Court was no longer an 'independent and impartial tribunal,' and Tusk's government used these rulings to stop publishing the tribunal's decisions.
Critics accuse PiS of imposing political control over key judicial institutions, and the court frequently ruled in favor of Polish legislation over EU law.
Lech Walesa, the former Polish president, told Tusk, 'The Fatherland is in danger!' and pledged his support.
The president subsequently declared that Poland's constitutional order had been violated and called an emergency meeting with parliamentary leadership.
Background
Poland deployed riot police as a constitutional crisis erupted over the removal of the Constitutional Tribunal President.
What's confirmed
- The European courts ruled Poland's Constitutional Court was no longer an "independent and impartial tribunal", and Tusk's government has used those rulings as a basis to stop publishing the tribunal's rulings.
- The constitutional crisis was triggered by the removal of Tribunal President Bogdan Swieczkowski while President Karol Nawrocki, an ally of Poland’s previous Eurosceptic Law and Justice (PiS) party government, was flying to Senegal.
- Police said three people were arrested after trying to enter the court complex, while Tusk said decisive action was necessary to restore the rule of law after years of political interference in the Constitutional Tribunal under PiS.
- The court frequently ruled in favour of Polish legislation over EU law and the European Union accused Poland’s highest court of being too close to the nationalist political power of the time.
- Poland's President Karol Nawrocki called off a visit to Africa in mid-flight as riot police deployed around the country's constitutional court Friday following the suspension of its chief justice in a battle between the centrist government and the nationalist right.
- "Images of armed police and legal interpretations according to which the minister of justice can remove the president of the Constitutional Court by decree will have a powerful, anti-rule of law backlash for years to come," he added.
What's still developing
- P olish President Karol Nawrocki cut short his flight to Senegal and headed back to Poland on Friday after police deployed to the country's Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw, where an announcement ordered the suspension of its president and vice president.
- The Constitutional Tribunal has become a focal point of political tension in Poland, with many accusing past PiS administrations of manipulating judicial appointments to favour the party's agenda.
- A major political and constitutional crisis has erupted in Poland after the suspension of the president of the Constitutional Tribunal triggered allegations of a “ coup d’état”, a police deployment and the extraordinary decision by President Karol Nawrocki to turn his plane around while travelling to Senegal.
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- "Today's action at the Constitutional Court, in my opinion, buries this body and the issue of the rule of law for two decades," Prof Matczak wrote on social media.