Tusk Pledges Support for Poland’s Disputed Tribunal

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk pledged state support for the Constitutional Tribunal and defended disputed changes to its leadership, saying there could be no compromise on restoring the rule of law. The legal authority and effect of the actions remain contested, with no agreement reported between Tusk and President Karol Nawrocki. In a televised address on October 31, Tusk said his government would provide the Tribunal with security and the conditions needed to operate. He described judges selected by the Sejm, Poland’s lower house of parliament, as legally chosen and said they had taken their oaths but were unable to begin work because Nawrocki had not received them. Nawrocki offered a sharply different account, saying Poland’s constitutional order had been violated and describing the events as a forcible takeover of a constitutional body. He identified Bartłomiej Sochański as the lawfully serving vice president and said he had enabled Sochański to enter the Tribunal. The dispute intensified after orders concerning the official duties of Tribunal President Bogdan Święczkowski and Sochański appeared on the court’s website. The orders’ legal effect is disputed. Tusk...