Tusk vows ‘no compromise’ as Poland court standoff deepens

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Oct. 31 there can be “no compromise” on the rule of law, as a standoff over the Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw deepened and President Karol Nawrocki convened crisis talks at the presidential palace.

The dispute, which began Oct. 30 when a judge took over the court and suspended its president, pits Tusk’s government against President Nawrocki, who accused it of a power grab. Neither side had backed down by Sunday, Nov. 1, and a meeting of the Tribunal’s judges is set for Nov. 3.

Riot police were deployed outside the Tribunal on Friday night after its president, Bogdan Święczkowski, was suspended, Euronews reported. Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, one of the judges elected by the Sejm, Poland’s lower house of parliament, announced she was taking over the court. Święczkowski and vice-president Bartłomiej Sochański were reportedly denied entry. Our earlier report covers the first hours.

Nawrocki cut short a trip to Senegal, met the head of the Supreme Court, Zbigniew Kapiński, and went to the Tribunal building. Footage posted on X showed scuffles with judges, Euronews reported. Presidential chief of staff Paweł Szefernaker, reading a statement in front of the building, said: “Tonight, there has been a breach of the constitutional order of the Republic of Poland and a forcible takeover of a constitutional organ of the state.”

Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said the footage showed the president “forcing his way in and attacking the judges,” according to Euronews, and that talks with Sochański had produced no compromise. The Tribunal’s official X account called the government’s move a “coup d’etat” on Friday, Al Jazeera and AFP reported.

Tusk addressed the nation on television Saturday evening. He called Friday’s events “scandalous incidents” and said restoring calm could not mean accepting lawlessness or violence. “A democratic state has to be strong and capable of enforcing justice,” he said, according to Euronews. He also said: “In certain matters there can be no compromise.” Tusk said the government waited for new judges to be chosen until the terms of judges appointed under PiS expired, and that “the president did not deign to receive that oath.”

Nawrocki said his consultations, held Saturday, were urgent “due to the threat to Poland’s internal security,” Al Jazeera reported. Nationalist, far-right and some governing coalition parties attended; Tusk’s Civic Coalition stayed away. No breakthrough had been reported by Saturday afternoon.

The European Commission weighed in on Saturday. A spokesperson, who was not named, told Euronews that “It is for the Polish authorities to ensure that the Constitutional Tribunal can function,” and that the appointment of new members “lies within the constitutional power of the Sejm.” The spokesperson also pointed to a May 5, 2026, European Court of Human Rights order requiring Polish authorities to refrain from hindering judges appointed by the Sejm in March from taking up their duties. The Commission said it was monitoring the crisis closely.

Critics on the other side have also spoken. Nicola Procaccini, co-chair of the European Conservatives and Reformists group in the European Parliament, said the Tusk government’s actions “constitute a clear and grave violation of the rule of law.” PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński called the events an assault on the Tribunal, Euronews reported.

The roots go back to 2015, when the outgoing parliament elected five judges and then-president Andrzej Duda refused their oaths, according to a Euronews explainer. The Sejm elected six judges in March 2026. Nawrocki accepted the oaths of two and refused four, and the Tribunal ruled May 12 that the president was not obliged to accept every appointment. Korwin-Piotrowska has announced a General Assembly of judges for Nov. 3.

For Canada, Poland is a NATO ally on the alliance’s eastern flank, and the country has a large diaspora here: about 1.1 million Canadians reported Polish ancestry in the 2021 census, according to Statistics Canada.

Via Euronews and Al Jazeera. Tribunal staffing and the number of judges involved are described differently by different outlets, and the claims of each side could not be independently verified.

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