The President of Poland summons the parties to find a way out of the political crisis after the police intervention at the Constitutional Court

Karol Nawrocki under pressure. The Polish president will receive representatives of the majority and opposition parties on Saturday, October 31, to try to find a solution to the political and institutional crisis, which took a dramatic turn the day before with the intervention of the police at the Constitutional Court in Warsaw.

“Due to the threat to the internal security of the Republic of Poland, today I am convening urgent consultations with the participation of representatives of the parliamentary forces,” Karol Nawrocki said in a statement read early Saturday morning before the Constitutional Court by his chief of staff.

Demonstrations in front of the Constitutional Court

In Poland, the political crisis around the Constitutional Court accelerated on Friday evening: the police were deployed within the walls of the country's highest court, at the heart of a standoff between the nationalist right and the current centrist government. Dozens of riot police blocked access to the building to the numerous supporters of the conservative national Law and Justice party (PiS, opposition) gathered in front. They then forced the gates but were unable to advance in the face of the police.

These PiS sympathizers have been demonstrating for several weeks to support the judges of the highest court in the country, appointed by the nationalist right when it governed. The government of centrist Donald Tusk wants them to leave, while President Nawrocki defends them.

“It’s a coup d’état by Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He is trampling on our constitutional rights,” one of these demonstrators, Tomasz Zaleski, castigated an AFP journalist. Figures from the radical right and the far right joined them during the evening. Police said they arrested three people after they tried to enter the compound.

The President of the Republic, the nationalist Karol Nawrocki, interrupted his flight to Senegal, where he was going on an official trip, and urgently returned to Warsaw. After meeting at the presidential palace with the first president of the Supreme Court, he went to the court under siege by demonstrators and police. According to images from local television, he broke through the cordon of agents equipped with shields and helmets in an indescribable crowd to reach the court.

Standoff between nationalists and centrists

Deemed too dependent on political power by the European Union, the Constitutional Court was at the heart of a standoff between Brussels and the nationalists of PiS (Law and Justice) during their mandates (2015-2023). As early as 2015, the PiS government had appointed openly politically engaged judges, whom neither the European Union nor the current head of government Donald Tusk (center right) recognize.

Since returning to power in 2023, Donald Tusk, former head of the European Council, has promised to resolve the crisis. Without success so far since the appointments of his government and the Diet (lower house of Parliament) to the Tribunal have not been ratified by the Head of State, who is obstructing them.

“Restoring the rule of law is our duty,” explained Donald Tusk. "After years of illegality under PiS, this is a difficult, sometimes painful process that requires resolute action. There is no other way," he continued.