Poland is locked in a constitutional confrontation that sovereignist voices are calling an EU-backed attempt to override the country’s independent institutions.
On October 30, Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government, through Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek, sent riot police to the Constitutional Tribunal building in Warsaw and backed a disputed claim to its leadership.
Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, elected by the current parliamentary majority but never sworn in by President Karol Nawrocki, declared herself acting head and suspended Tribunal President Bogdan Swieczkowski and Vice-President Bartlomiej Sochanski for one month.
President Nawrocki, en route to Senegal, turned his plane around over Spain and returned to Warsaw.
He entered the Tribunal, labeled the action a “forcible takeover of a constitutional body,” and demanded the police withdraw.
Critics note that Korwin-Piotrowska has not taken her judicial oath before the president and that no single judge holds the power to suspend the Tribunal’s leadership.
The Tribunal’s official account stated that “all persons participating in these actions are committing the crime of a coup d’état.”
Tusk has framed the move as restoring the rule of law after years of Law and Justice governance, insisting “in certain matters, there can be no compromise.”
On November 1 the European Commission publicly affirmed that Poland’s parliament has the right to appoint Tribunal judges, aligning with Tusk and saying it is closely monitoring events.
That stance followed a Venice Commission opinion arguing that President Nawrocki cannot block duly elected judges from taking office.
In a Saturday television address Tusk rejected any compromise, accused PiS and Nawrocki of inciting violence, and declared the Tribunal “not independent” in its present form.
Two of his coalition partners nevertheless held separate emergency talks with Nawrocki, revealing cracks inside the governing camp.
The president continued consultations with parliamentary representatives while refusing to meet Tusk, maintaining that a constitutional body is being seized by force.
Korwin-Piotrowska has suspended Tribunal staff, closed the registry, chancellery and legal offices, advised judges to work off-site for security reasons, and summoned a General Assembly for November 3 to approve the 2027 budget.
Whether that assembly can legally convene remains contested, as the existing leadership rejects her authority and the Tribunal continues to describe the actions as a coup.
The European Commission’s open support for Tusk has intensified the standoff and fueled charges that Brussels is intervening in Poland’s internal constitutional order.
The crisis unfolds against a backdrop of unrest across Europe—riots in France, Belgium and Spain—and disputed presidential contests in Brazil and Serbia, where sovereignist forces have clashed with globalist-aligned governments and institutions.