Poland's constitutional dispute has reached the point at which the president is no longer merely withholding action but is personally participating in an institutional confrontation. Karol Nawrocki's overnight appearance at the Constitutional Tribunal deepens a crisis that cannot be resolved by political presence outside a court building.
The immediate trigger was a notice on the tribunal's website saying that its president and deputy president had been temporarily removed from their functions. Newly appointed judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska was named acting head. Tagesschau reports that she said the outgoing president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, had rendered the tribunal unable to function by denying new judges access, and that she called a meeting of all constitutional judges for 3 November.
Nawrocki went to the building overnight and told the new judges that they were taking it over illegally. He demanded the withdrawal of security personnel sent by the government and convened talks with parliamentary parties. That is a political intervention, not a substitute for a transparent process capable of settling the competing claims of authority.
The background makes this particularly serious. The former PiS government had filled the tribunal with judges close to it. According to Tagesschau, the European Court of Justice later found serious flaws in appointments and concluded that the tribunal could not be regarded as independent and impartial. Nawrocki, meanwhile, had refused in recent months to swear in several judges nominated by parliament. A constitutional court cannot restore its authority when access to office, institutional leadership and security are each decided through political tests of strength.
The strongest counterargument is that Tusk's government, too, may invoke the rule of law to install a leadership sympathetic to it. The material available does not include the full legal documents needed to make a final judgment on the legality of every step. That uncertainty is precisely why Nawrocki's personal intervention at the site of the conflict is damaging: it raises political pressure rather than enabling a verifiable resolution.
The next question is whether the judges' meeting called for 3 November can take place, and whether the party talks can produce a route out of the deadlock.
Sources
- Tagesschau · Source date: 2026-10-31
- Der Spiegel · Source date: 2026-10-31
- Deutsche Welle · Source date: 2026-10-31
Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-10-31
Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal loses authority when its power struggle moves to the street