On Saturday, the European Commission called on the Polish president to ratify the appointment of eight new judges, shortly after his consultations with representatives of the centrist majority parties and the nationalist opposition to find a solution to the ongoing political and institutional crisis.
“It is up to the Polish authorities to ensure that the Constitutional Tribunal can operate in accordance with the Polish Constitution and in compliance with the relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union,” a European Commission spokesperson told Agence France-Presse.
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“The appointment of eight new members of the Constitutional Tribunal falls within the constitutional authority of the Sejm” (the lower house of parliament), the spokesperson added, as Polish President Karol Nawrotsky refused to ratify the appointment.
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The political crisis between Donald Tusk’s centrist government and the opposition—which has been simmering ever since (center-right) Tusk returned to power in 2023, took a dramatic turn on Friday with a police raid on the Constitutional Court in Warsaw.
This court, which the European Union considers to be heavily dependent on the political establishment, has been at the center of a confrontation between Brussels and the nationalists of the PiS (Law and Justice) during their terms in government (2015–2023).
As early as 2015, the PiS government had appointed judges to the court who were politically aligned with the party—appointments that neither the EU nor Donald Tusk recognize.
SEE ALSO: Crisis in Poland: Police and Allegations of a “Coup” at the Constitutional Tribunal
The European Commission also pointed out that the European Court of Justice ordered interim measures last May, requiring the Polish authorities to “refrain from any action that hinders the assumption and exercise of judicial duties by the judges appointed by the Sejm in March 2016.”
Source: CNA
