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Polish President Karol Nawrocki, who was flying to Senegal, said
he turned his flight back because of the situation. “At a moment
like this, the President must be in Poland. I am cutting short
my flight to Senegal. I am returning,” he wrote on X.
Poland's top judicial bodies, including the Constitutional
Tribunal, have been a major bone of contention between the
current pro-European government and the main opposition party,
national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS).
Critics in Poland and the European Union accuse PiS, which led
the country between 2015 and 2023, of imposing political control
over key judicial institutions, including the Constitutional
Tribunal. The PiS reforms led the EU to impose fines on Poland.
The pro-European government of Donald Tusk came to power in 2023
with a promise to restore the independence of the judiciary.
Since then, the government’s efforts have been blocked by veto
by two successive presidents aligned with PiS, including
Nawrocki.
The information about the suspension of the president of the
Constitutional Tribunal, Bogdan Święczkowski, was published on
the website of the court around 6 p.m. local time. The website
of the Tribunal went down soon after so The Associated Press
could not independently verify the official reasons given for
his suspension.
Święczkowski became head of the Constitutional Tribunal under
the PiS government, and Tusk has accused him of blocking judges
elected by the parliamentary majority from taking up their posts
at the tribunal.
“Restoring the rule of law is our obligation," Prime Minister
Tusk wrote on X on Friday evening. "After years of lawlessness
under PiS this is a difficult process, sometimes painful and it
requires decisive action. There is no other way.”
Speaking about the future of the Constitutional Tribunal at
Campus Polska in August, Tusk said his government had a plan to
ensure the tribunal would be again staffed with lawfully
appointed judges while acknowledging his methods may not be to
everyone's liking.
Politicians from PiS, currently the largest opposition force,
have criticized Święczkowski's suspension.
“This is a blatant, criminal attack on the constitutional
order," former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro wrote on X
Friday evening. “That is why I call for resistance that will be
loud, firm, solidary and fearless.”
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