Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who has been accused of orchestrating an attempted "coup d'état" in connection with events at the Constitutional Tribunal, has blamed Karol Nawrocki, the Law and Justice (PiS) party that supports him, and former Polish President Andrzej Duda for destroying the rule of law in the country.
"Together with the parliamentary majority, I made attempts to repair the [Constitutional] Tribunal," he explained in a video message shared on X. "No one had any doubt that the Tribunal, in the form imposed by PiS, was not a genuine court. That was the assessment of international institutions, Polish legal authorities, and the public," he asserted.
Describing the events that unfolded outside the Constitutional Tribunal, for which many have held Tusk himself responsible, as "shameful," the Prime Minister insisted that "the path to calm cannot be found by yielding to illegality and violence."
The President of Poland had to literally force his way in to gain entry to the Constitutional Tribunal’s headquarters early this Saturday. Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, who had assumed interim leadership of the judicial institution earlier that day, ordered the suspension of its top officials; she subsequently proposed meeting with Nawrocki on several occasions, yet simultaneously blocked his entry and even scuffled with him, in an apparent attempt to prevent him from entering the premises.
Former President Duda blamed Tusk for the current crisis at the Constitutional Tribunal, asserting that it is the result of deliberate actions by the government led by the Prime Minister.
"It is, quite simply, a major legal manipulation by Donald Tusk and the Civic Platform [Tusk’s party] regarding the Constitutional Tribunal, or, to be more precise, regarding the election of its judges," he stated in comments to Polsat News.
Duda accused the current parliamentary majority of maintaining a deliberate, months-long passivity regarding the filling of vacancies. "The judges' terms had expired, yet the Sejm failed to elect their replacements—likely to prolong the process, since, let us not forget, the nine-year term only begins once the judges have taken their oath and are in a position to start issuing rulings," he added.
Source of information: Global News Agencies including REUTERS / TASS / AFP / ANADOLU / INT.RU / Al Jazeera / CNN
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Saturday that his government would press ahead with efforts to restore the independence of Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal, as hundreds of protesters gathered for a second night against the suspension of the court’s president.
ReplyDeleteThe pro-European government said the suspension is necessary to restore judicial independence, while critics from the opposition have likened it to a “coup d’etat.”