A new poll has shown more Poles believe rule of law in the country has worsened since the centre-left coalition government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk took over from the previous Conservative (PiS) administration in December 2023.
The survey carried out by the SW Research agency for the daily Rzeczpospolita and published on January 4, found 35 per cent of respondents felt that the state of the rule of law in Poland had worsened since Tusk came to power.
Some 28 per cent of those questioned in the survey said the situation had not changed, while 24 per cent said it had improved and 13 per cent expressed no view on the matter.
A report titled Rule of Law in Ruins, published by the opposition-allied Association of Polish Lawyers on January 2, slammed the judicial practices of the current government. It accused the administration of taking over institutions unlawfully and concentrating on “revenge and retribution” for the eight years of PiS rule.
Restoring the effective rule of law after eight years of PiS rule was said to be a top priority for Tusk’s government but recent surveys have revealed the public has not been convinced it has made any real progress.
A United Surveys poll published by daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna (DGP) in September of 2024 found that 51 per cent disapproved of Tusk’s statement that he would have to “make decisions … that will not all meet the criteria of full legality from the point of view of purists”.
The poll also found that 51 per cent regarded the government negatively against 40 per cent expressing a positive opinion. A separate survey by the state-owned Centre for Public Opinion Research (CBOS) found 32 per cent backed the administration and 40 per cent opposed it.
Tusk’s party, the Civic Coalition (KO), has maintained a narrow lead over the main opposition PiS in most voting intention polls. The KO’s candidate for May’s presidential election, the Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, has enjoyed a relatively comfortable lead of 7-10 per cent in recent opinion surveys over his PiS rival Karol Nawrocki.
During its eight years in power, the PiS was criticised by European institutions and other international bodies for reforms they claimed limited the independence of the Polish judiciary by making legal appointments dependent on the political will of the parliamentary majority.
The Tusk government’s policies, despite receiving acceptance from the European Commission – which has unblocked funds frozen under the previous Conservative government – are equally mired in controversy. In this case, the problem lies with its bypassing of the Constitution and the head of state as well as alleged breaches of law.
The Tusk-allied Speaker of Parliament, Szymon Hołownia, admitted on January 7 that the current situation was a “huge mess”.
According to the Rule of Law in Ruins report, the government, under the “guise of restoring the rule of law”, had usurped the powers of the head of state and “derecognised” the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court. In addition, it had brought prosecutors and judges under government control and “replaced laws with decrees and parliamentary resolutions”.
Alleged abuses of power by the Tusk government cited in the report included the replacement of the national prosecutor with a government appointee without the required permission from the President Andrzej Duda. It claimed that had led to numerous proceedings being initiated “aimed at politically targeting MPs currently aligned with the opposition” .
The lawyers’ report also accused the administration of causing chaos in the judiciary. It said that had occurred due to the government asserting that judges appointed after judicial reform in 2018 during the term of the last PiS leadership were “neo-judges” who should be excluded from sitting on the bench “effectively side-lining nearly a quarter of judges”.
Finally, Rule of Law in Ruins warned that the Polish Government’s not recognising the Supervisory Chamber over of the Supreme Court could potentially undermine the the May election process.
