Brussels backs Tusk as Poland's Constitutional Tribunal crisis deepens

The European Commission has sided with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in the escalating standoff over Poland's Constitutional Tribunal, stating that the power to appoint new judges rests with the Sejm, Poland's lower house of parliament.

Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law Michael McGrath said the Tribunal "needs to be able to function" in accordance with the Polish constitution and case law of the Court of Justice of the EU, adding that the Venice Commission had been clear on the Sejm's appointing authority.

The dispute centres on President Karol Nawrocki's refusal to swear in Tribunal judges elected by the current parliamentary majority, and the blocking of those judges by the court's Law and Justice-linked leadership. Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, having taken charge of the Tribunal, suspended Tribunal President Bogdan Święczkowski and his deputy Bartłomiej Sochański after they barred the new judges from working for months.

Nawrocki denounced the suspensions as unlawful, then turned his plane around mid-flight en route to Senegal, returned to Warsaw, and pushed his way into the Tribunal shortly after midnight Saturday, confronting judges challenging its leadership.

Tusk, addressing the nation Saturday night, said no compromise was possible, comparing calls for reconciliation to a thief demanding to keep half the contents of a stolen handbag. He stated they had "waited too long for the treasure of an independent, democratic Poland" to be frightened into retreat.

Korwin-Piotrowska has convened a full assembly of Tribunal judges for Tuesday, setting up a further confrontation over who controls the court. McGrath stopped short of endorsing the suspensions of Święczkowski and Sochański.