Polish president holds crisis talks in court standoff

A dispute over the politicisation of Poland’s constitutional court is deepening, with no side appearing to back down.

Protesters shout slogans at riot police lined up at the gate outside the headquarters of Poland's Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw on October 31, 2026 [AFP]

The Polish president has held crisis talks with political leaders as a dispute over the independence of the country’s top constitutional court deepens.

Representatives of nationalist, far-right, and some governing coalition parties attended President Karol Nawrocki’s talks at the presidential palace on Saturday, while Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing centrist party, Civic Coalition, stayed away.

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Nawrocki said in a statement that he convened the “urgent” consultations “due to the threat to Poland’s internal security” presented by the sudden suspension on Friday of the Constitutional Tribunal’s chief judge, Bogdan Swieczkowski.

No breakthrough had emerged by Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile, in a Saturday evening speech addressing the ongoing crisis, Tusk accused conservative nationalist opposition leaders of wanting to “destroy democracy and rule of law”.

“Let’s call things by their name,” he said. “For years in Poland there exist organisations and politicians who wish to destroy democracy and rule of law.”

Followers of the opposition right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS) gathered outside the court on Saturday, extending protests that have been running for weeks in support of PiS-friendly judges.

Constitutional crisis

The Constitutional Tribunal is Poland’s top court for deciding constitutional matters. It has been at the centre of a years-long political saga related to the politicisation of Polish courts, which Tusk says began under the right-wing PiS government.

Swieczkowski, whom the PiS appointed during its 2015-2023 government, was accused of using his powers as head of the court to block parliament from electing new judges.

Tusk argued that the court’s judges were not politically neutral and that Swieczkowski’s removal was a “painful” but necessary decision to restore the rule of law in Poland after years of erosion under PiS rule.

The court’s official X account on Friday described the government’s move as a “coup d’etat”.

Nawrocki, himself a right-wing figure, has also blocked nominations to the court under his administration.

A key complaint brought by Tusk and his pro-European party was that the court’s PiS-aligned judges frequently ruled in favour of Polish legislation over EU law.

The European Commission on Saturday urged Nawrocki to accept the nomination of new judges at the centre of the country’s constitutional crisis, the AFP news agency reported.

US Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose called for calm on all sides.

“The last thing Poland needs is a confrontation that spirals into something far worse,” Rose wrote in a post on X.

围绕波兰宪法法院政治化的争议正在加深，双方似乎都没有让步的打算。

2026年10月31日，在华沙波兰宪法法院总部外的大门前，抗议者向列队的防暴警察高喊口号。[法新社]

随着围绕波兰最高宪法法院独立性的争议不断加深，波兰总统已与各政治领导人举行了紧急会谈。

周六，民族主义政党、极右翼政党和一些执政联盟政党的代表出席了卡罗尔·纳沃茨基总统在总统府举行的会谈，而总理唐纳德·图斯克的执政中间派政党公民联盟则缺席了会谈。

波兰警方在首席法官停职后被部署到最高法院，名单共3份，这是第1份。

波兰总统加入抗议活动，最高法院陷入宪法危机（共3条记录，此为第2条）

波兰宪法法院外的抗议活动（共 3 起）：危机的起因是什么？

纳沃茨基在一份声明中表示，他召集了“紧急”磋商，“因为宪法法院首席法官博格丹·斯维茨科夫斯基周五突然被停职，对波兰国内安全构成了威胁”。

截至周六下午，仍未取得任何突破。

与此同时，图斯克在周六晚间就当前危机发表讲话时，指责保守民族主义反对派领导人想要“摧毁民主和法治”。

“让我们直言不讳，”他说。“多年来，波兰一直存在着一些组织和政客，他们企图摧毁民主和法治。”

周六，反对派右翼法律与公正党 (PiS) 的支持者聚集在法院外，延续了数周以来支持亲法律与公正党法官的抗议活动。

宪政危机

波兰宪法法院是波兰最高法院，负责裁决宪法事务。多年来，它一直处于一场与波兰法院政治化相关的政治风波的中心，图斯克称，这种政治化始于右翼法律与公正党（PiS）执政时期。

斯维茨科夫斯基是法律与公正党在 2015 年至 2023 年执政期间任命的，他被指控利用其作为法院院长的权力阻止议会选举新法官。

图斯克认为，法院的法官们在政治上并不中立，而斯维茨科夫斯基的免职是一个“痛苦的”但必要的决定，目的是在波兰法律与公正党（PiS）统治多年后恢复法治。

法院官方账号 X 于周五将政府的举动描述为“政变”。

纳沃茨基本人是右翼人物，在他的领导下，他也曾阻止对法院的提名。

图斯克及其亲欧政党提出的一个主要诉求是，法院中与法律与公正党结盟的法官经常裁定波兰法律优于欧盟法律。

据法新社报道，欧盟委员会周六敦促纳沃茨基接受对新法官的提名，这些法官是该国宪政危机的核心人物。

美国驻波兰大使汤姆·罗斯呼吁各方保持冷静。

“波兰最不需要的就是一场演变成更糟糕局面的对抗，”罗斯在 X 网站上的一篇文章中写道。