The European Commission has backed the Polish parliament’s right to fill seats on the country’s Constitutional Tribunal, as a fight for control of the court spilled on to the streets of Warsaw.
A Commission spokesperson said the appointment of eight new judges “lies within the constitutional power of the Sejm”, the lower house. It was up to Polish authorities to ensure the tribunal worked in line with the constitution and the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the spokesperson added.
The Commission also cited an October 13 opinion from the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s constitutional advisory body, and interim measures from the European Court of Human Rights protecting the judges elected by parliament.
It made no mention of the move that triggered the crisis. On October 30, judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, one of five judges President Karol Nawrocki has refused to swear in, suspended tribunal president Bogdan Święczkowski and his deputy Bartłomiej Sochański for a month and took charge of the court herself.
She relied on Article 130 of the law on ordinary courts, which critics say does not apply to the tribunal. Nawrocki, elected in 2025 with Law and Justice (PiS) backing, was flying to Senegal at the time and turned his aircraft around.
Riot police surrounded the building and kept Święczkowski out, Notes from Poland reported. Police said they detained three people after projectiles were thrown.
The tribunal’s official X account described the events as a coup. Nawrocki called them a forcible takeover of a constitutional body, while PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński said Poland was becoming a police state.
Criticism also came from academics far removed from PiS. Warsaw law professor Marcin Matczak, a long-standing critic of Święczkowski, said there was no legal basis for the suspension, while HEC Paris professor Alberto Alemanno wrote that restoring the rule of law “must itself be done lawfully”.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose government left the tribunal without funding in its 2027 draft budget, told the nation on October 31 that no politician, even a president, could enter a court and give orders to judges. He also blamed pro-Russian forces and Russian bots for stoking the row.
Abroad, National Rally’s Marine Le Pen accused EU institutions of indifference to what she called a forced takeover. Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša condemned the police deployment, while US ambassador to Poland Tom Rose called for restraint.
Under PiS, the Commission froze billions in EU funds for Poland over judicial independence. It released them in 2024 under Tusk, although the reforms meant to unlock the money were never completed.
Korwin-Piotrowska has called a general assembly of the tribunal’s judges for November 3.
