Before the government meeting, the Prime Minister said that he would have "the opportunity to decide for the first time in years with a clear conscience about publishing the decision of the Constitutional Tribunal."
The Constitutional Tribunal has started its work and today I will receive from the Constitutional Tribunal a resolution of the General Assembly of Judges for publication in the Official Journal, which concerns changes to the regulations of the Tribunal, he said.
As Tusk emphasized, this change is intended to improve the work of the Tribunal. He added that "this will be the first publication in years of the decision of this finally properly appointed important state body."
I am convinced that all emotions will probably not have died down yet, but I think I can today solemnly announce the beginning of a new era - said the Prime Minister. He emphasized that "a properly elected Constitutional Tribunal is important, above all, for citizens."
I am glad that despite various obstacles, emotions and aggression, the judges have finally put this situation straight, and the government can perform its duties regarding judges' judgments, decisions and resolutions, Tusk noted.
Today at At 10 a.m., another - the second - meeting of judges convened by judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska at the seat of the Constitutional Tribunal was scheduled. The purpose of the meeting - as indicated by Korwin-Piotrowska in the order issued on this matter - is to make changes to the Rules of Procedure of the Constitutional Tribunal.
The justification for the order stated that adopting and amending the draft regulations of the Constitutional Tribunal is "the exclusive competence of the General Assembly of Judges of the Constitutional Tribunal". It was also indicated that "urgent changes" to the regulations are necessary to "ensure the efficiency and transparency of the Tribunal's activities." In last week's statement, Korwin-Piotrowska pointed out in this context the need for a clear and legible definition of the issue of the administration of the Tribunal, the course of cases and the method of appointing panels.
How would Poles heal the Tribunal?
Opinia24 researchers asked about the conflict around the Constitutional Tribunal in the latest survey for RMF FM. Respondents were asked: "Which of the following solutions do you think would be best for the Constitutional Tribunal?" 30 percent respondents stated that the best solution for the Constitutional Tribunal would be to carry out a reform and select its composition from scratch. This is the most frequently indicated answer in the Opinia24 survey.
19 percent respondents chose a solution assuming the continued functioning of the Constitutional Tribunal under the leadership of Anna Korwin-Piotrowska or another judge selected by the current parliamentary majority.
12 percent respondents would like the Tribunal to continue operating under the leadership of President Bogdan Święczkowski.
In turn, 9 percent respondents believe that the Constitutional Tribunal should be liquidated and replaced with a new institution.
It is worth paying attention to the large group of undecided people. More than a quarter of respondents, i.e. 27 percent, could not indicate their preferred solution. Another 4 percent decided that none of the proposals presented were appropriate.
Dispute over the Tribunal
After on October 30, representatives of the group elected as judges of the Constitutional Tribunal in this term of the Sejm provided information that Judge Korwin-Piotrowska - as the oldest judge - had become the head of the Tribunal and issued an order on a break in the activities of the President of the Constitutional Tribunal, Bogdan Święczkowski, and Vice-President Bartłomiej Sochański - the conflict regarding the Constitutional Tribunal intensified. Święczkowski and Sochański consider these orders and the meetings convened by Korwin-Piotrowska to be unlawful.
President Karol Nawrocki then interrupted his trip to Senegal and returned to Warsaw late in the evening and met, among others, with the First President of the Supreme Court, Zbigniew Kapiński, and then came to the seat of the Constitutional Tribunal. A day later in the morning, the president issued a statement saying, among other things, that "there was a violation of the constitutional order of the Republic of Poland and a forcible takeover of a constitutional organ of the state." In turn, that evening, Prime Minister Donald Tusk delivered a speech, saying, among other things, that the Sejm of the current term had elected new judges of the Constitutional Tribunal, but the president did not take the oath from some of them, President Święczkowski prevented them from taking up work, and when, after many weeks of waiting, they decided to take up their duties, "they were attacked."
Last Tuesday, the General Assembly of Judges of the Constitutional Tribunal was convened by Korwin-Piotrowska, during which a resolution on the Tribunal's budget for 2027 was adopted.
In March 2024, the Sejm adopted a resolution on eliminating the effects of the constitutional crisis of 2015-2023, in which it stated that "taking into account in the activities of a public authority the decisions of the Constitutional Tribunal issued in violation of the law may be considered a violation of the principle of legalism by these bodies." Since the adoption of this resolution by the Sejm, the Constitutional Tribunal's judgments have not been published in the Journal of Laws.
