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Polish PM Tusk is accused of a power grab as his clash with President Nawrocki over judges deepens

President Karol Nawrocki pushes through the police cordon outside the Constitutional Tribunal shortly before 1am. Government-appointed judges had suspended the court's president, Bogdan Święczkowski, a move the tribunal itself called 'the crime of a coup d'état'.
President Karol Nawrocki pushes through the police cordon outside the Constitutional Tribunal shortly before 1am. Government-appointed judges had suspended the court's president, Bogdan Święczkowski, a move the tribunal itself called 'the crime of a coup d'état'.

Poland's Constitutional Tribunal has become the frontline of a bitter standoff between Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Andrzej Nawrocki, with Tusk's government refusing to recognise judges Nawrocki appointed and opponents charging him with dismantling legal checks rather than restoring them. Critics argue Tusk's own moves — blocking tribunal nominees and sidelining rulings — mirror the very abuses he campaigned against. The EU is watching closely, with Poland's rule-of-law record directly tied to billions in frozen recovery funds.

An EPP MEP told the Polish president he has 'no competence' to appoint judges to the Constitutional Tribunal unilaterally.

Tusk insists he is undoing illegal appointments made under PiS rule, but opponents say he is simply replacing one partisan court with another.

The standoff risks paralysing Poland's constitutional order entirely, with neither side willing to blink first.

MoreFinancial TimesPoland’s struggle to restore the rule of lawAOL News UKPoland's president has 'no competence' to appoint judges, says EPP MEPAOL News UKEurope Today: Tusk v Nawrocki: Poland's Constitutional Tribunal crisis explodesFox NewsPoland's constitutional crisis deepens as Prime Minister Tusk faces accusations of power grab
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