Warsaw's Palace Feud: Judges, Presidents and Brussels

Polish President Karol Nawrocki called "urgent" crisis talks at the presidential palace on Saturday, October 31, 2026, citing "the threat to Poland's internal security" after the sudden suspension on Friday of Constitutional Tribunal chief judge Bogdan Swieczkowski. By Saturday afternoon, no breakthrough had emerged. Nobody was backing down.

The guest list told its own story. Representatives of nationalist, far-right and some governing coalition parties showed up. Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist Civic Coalition stayed away. A president, a prime minister and a court, each claiming to speak for the law, and none of them speaking to each other.

Judges Against Ministers

Swieczkowski was appointed by Law and Justice (PiS) during its 2015-2023 government. He stands accused of using his powers as head of the court to block parliament from electing new judges. Tusk, in a Saturday evening speech, called his removal a "painful" but necessary decision to restore the rule of law after years of erosion under PiS rule. He argued the court's judges were not politically neutral.

The court's own X account described the government's move on Friday as a "coup d'etat."

Nawrocki, himself a right-wing figure, has also blocked nominations to the court under his administration. So the president blocks the nominations, the chief judge blocks parliament's elections, and the government suspends the chief judge. Every institution is defending its turf, and every one of them says it's defending democracy.

In his Saturday speech, 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."

Brussels Wants Its Rulings Obeyed

One detail in the base reporting deserves a long look. A key complaint from 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 dispute over who sits on the bench is, in part, a dispute over which authority outranks which: Warsaw or Brussels.

On Saturday, the European Commission urged Nawrocki to accept the nomination of new judges at the centre of the crisis, according to AFP. The Brussels apparatus has a clear preference for how this ends. Nobody asked the people of Poland which hierarchy they'd like to live under.

Foreign Voices Call for Calm

US Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose added his own voice, calling for calm on all sides. "The last thing Poland needs is a confrontation that spirals into something far worse," Rose wrote on X. An ambassador from a foreign government lecturing a country on how to manage its internal power struggle: that's diplomacy, as usual.

The Street, Again

Followers of PiS gathered outside the court on Saturday, extending protests that have been running for weeks in support of PiS-friendly judges. The crowds are there, but they're mobilised in defence of one faction of judges against another. The question of who gets to wear the robes is being settled by presidents, prime ministers and party loyalists. The people outside the building are, once again, an audience.

Tusk says the politicisation of Polish courts began under PiS. PiS says the current government is staging a coup. The president is holding talks without the prime minister's party. And the Commission is telling the president whose nominees to accept. Every side invokes the rule of law. None of them, in the reporting available, has proposed asking anyone outside the palace, the party offices or the Berlaymont what they want.