Poland: police surround the Constitutional Tribunal, the rule of law can only be restored through the law

On the night of 30 to 31 October, Warsaw witnessed a scene one thought reserved for fragile regimes: riot police deployed around the country's highest constitutional court, protesters massed at the gates, a head of state turning back mid-flight to rush home. Poland, a pillar of European support for Ukraine, is going through one of its most serious institutional crises since Donald Tusk returned to power.

The facts

According to Euronews, it all began on Friday 30 October, when judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska announced the suspension of the president of the Constitutional Tribunal, Bogdan Święczkowski. According to the report carried by BFMTV and observed on the ground by an AFP journalist, this judge was appointed by the current majority but has not been sworn in before the President of the Republic, which leads the court to dispute the legitimacy of her interim role. According to Euronews, the court's official account even states that she is not a member of it.

At the same time, the Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General, Waldemar Żurek, requested the lifting of the immunity of Bogdan Święczkowski and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański, Euronews reports. Dozens of police officers were then deployed around the building. The police say they did not enter the premises and that three people were arrested while trying to get into the compound, according to AFP. Le Monde reports a night of clashes outside the court.

President Karol Nawrocki, elected in 2025 with the backing of PiS, cut short a visit to Senegal. According to Türkiye Today, he went to the court during the night, before calling urgent consultations with parliamentary forces for Saturday, citing a threat to internal security.

The positions at stake

For the government, the issue is repairing an old wrong. Donald Tusk summed it up on X:

Restoring the rule of law is our duty — Donald Tusk

The Prime Minister acknowledges a difficult, sometimes painful process, but says there is no other way. He can rely on a solid legal argument: on 18 December 2025, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled, in case C-448/23, that the Polish Constitutional Tribunal does not meet the requirements of an independent and impartial tribunal established by law. According to the Court's press release, serious irregularities marred the appointment of three judges in December 2015 and that of the court's president in December 2016. Also according to AFP, the appointments put forward by the current majority remain blocked for lack of presidential approval.

On the other side, the reading is the opposite. The court itself speaks of a "coup d'état" and considers that those taking part are committing a criminal offence, according to Euronews. Karol Nawrocki denounces a forcible takeover and a breach of the constitutional order, and demands the withdrawal of the forces sent by the government. Jarosław Kaczyński calls on his supporters to win the battle for Poland, while the leader of the Solidarność union, Piotr Duda, issued the government a warning with warlike overtones. These figures raise a point that deserves to be heard: can a judge who has not been sworn in remove, on her own, the president of a court?

The analysis

Both ends must be held. On the substance, the Tusk government is right: a constitutional court whose composition has been ruled irregular by the highest European court cannot remain as it is. For eight years, this court was used to assert, on several occasions, the primacy of Polish law over European law, something Brussels constantly criticised. Doing nothing would amount to accepting that an outgoing power can lock institutions down for the long term.

But on the method, the danger is real. A breach of the rule of law is not repaired by an act that borrows its contested appearances. A suspension decided by a judge whose status is disputed, followed by a police deployment around a court, hands the opposition the narrative it was waiting for. The French republican tradition teaches it: the legitimacy of an institution depends as much on the regularity of the procedure as on the justice of the cause. A victory won by force would be fragile, and could be undone by the next majority with the same weapons.

For France and Europe, the affair is anything but distant. Poland is a central partner in the Weimar Triangle and a decisive actor in facing Russia. Paralysis between the government and the presidency would weaken Europe's voice at a time when Ukraine's future is at stake. It would also give an argument to all those elsewhere in Europe who set national sovereignty against the common law of the Union.

Conclusion

The way out of the crisis can be neither a surrender to the presidential blockade nor a police show of force. It requires a constitutional compromise negotiated in Parliament, based on the Court of Justice's ruling and, why not, on the expertise of the Council of Europe's Venice Commission. Paris, together with Berlin, has the means to offer its good offices within the Weimar Triangle, without lecturing. The question now facing Polish leaders is this: will they restore the rule of law through the law, rather than against it?

Article written with the help of artificial intelligence.