Prime Minister Donald Tusk said “the rule of law differs from the law of the jungle” in a public address. Both Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Karol Nawrocki on Saturday doubled down on their respective sides of the dispute over the leadership of Constitutional Tribunal, which has been in crisis since Friday evening. The long-running political dispute over the Tribunal, dating back to 2015, has effectively paralyzed the institution, with the pro-European government and the nationalist president refusing to recognize appointees put forward by the other side. Late on Friday, the Constitutional Tribunal said its longest-serving judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska had suspended Bogdan Święczkowski, the tribunal's president and an appointee of Tusk's hard-right predecessor, and was now in charge of the court. On Saturday evening, Tusk justified Friday’s events by saying he and the ruling coalition had tried to reach a compromise with the president in recent months, but it had been rejected. “We proposed resolutions and laws to all political forces and both presidents that would enable the joint restoration of the rule of law,” he said in a televised address to the nation. “All to no avail.” He added the Tribunal’s judges had been lawfully elected and that no politician, not even the president, had the right to obstruct their work. “The rule of law differs from the law of the jungle,” the prime minister said, adding that in some matters, "there can be no compromise." Earlier on Saturday, Nawrocki met with right wing political parties the Polish People's Party, Poland 2050, Razem, Konfederacja and PiS to discuss the situation. The parties, which do not see eye-to-eye, have found common ground over the Tribunal issue. The president previously described Friday’s actions as a “breach of public order” and “a forcible takeover of a constitutional body.” Long-running dispute The confrontation has brought a long-running dispute between Poland’s government and president to a head and raised new questions about who is ultimately in charge. The current impasse is the latest phase of a dispute over the Constitutional Tribunal, its appointments and its leadership. It centers on whether a president can prevent parliament’s elected judges from taking up their duties by declining to swear them in. Earlier this year, Nawrocki —who is supported by Poland’s right-wing opposition— failed to administer the oaths of office of five judges elected by the Sejm, Poland’s lower house of parliament. The judges gave their oaths before parliament instead. The Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s independent advisory body on constitutional law, has described the president’s role in the procedure as ceremonial. It said he should administer the oath without delay and should not claim the power to review parliament’s election of judges. The president is now seeking to contain a crisis in which his own refusal to administer the five judges’ oaths remains a central unresolved issue. The latest escalation began on Friday when Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska issued an order suspending Święczkowski and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański, from their duties for one month. The move prompted protests involving right-wing politicians and supporters. Nawrocki turned his flight to Senegal around mid-air as the situation unfolded and went to the Tribunal, where footage showed him pushing past judges standing at the entrance to get into the building. The court remains the casualty TVP World’s political analyst Stuart Dowell said the biggest casualty of the dispute is Tribunal itself, which can only do its work effectively if the "government, the president and the courts are prepared to accept its rulings.” He also pointed out that, even if a compromise is found, next year’s elections may not improve the situation. “If the right returns to power, it could attempt to reverse whatever changes are made now, setting off yet another round of constitutional warfare,” Dowell wrote on Saturday. “Eleven years after the original dispute began, Poland could still be arguing over who gets to run the court that is supposed to settle such arguments.”
President Karol Nawrocki and Prime Minister Donald Tusk have not yet found common ground over the Constitutional Tribunal. (PAP)
