Tusk Says There Can Be No Compromise on the Polish Court
In a prime-time address on Saturday night, after the riot police we reported yesterday, Poland’s prime minister vowed to see the contested overhaul of the constitutional court through: “in certain matters, there can be no compromise”. He said the tribunal in the form his predecessors imposed “was not a genuine court”.
Yesterday we reported that experts were deeply divided on the legality and declined to adjudicate; nothing since has resolved that, but the politics has hardened considerably. His argument rests on European rulings rather than Polish ones, and on the claim the court has been paralysed for more than a decade. Of his opponents: “for years, there have been organisations and politicians in Poland who seek to destroy democracy and the rule of law.” He rebuked the head of state directly: “in a democratic state, no politician can enter a court to issue orders or intimidate judges — not even the president.” The European Commission then intervened on Saturday, urging the president to approve the judges parliament has nominated so the tribunal can function under both the Polish constitution and EU law — which places Brussels, unusually, on the government’s side of a domestic constitutional fight. A human rights foundation nonetheless calls the legal basis for the suspension “questionable”. The crisis flared on Friday when government-backed judges moved to take procedural control and suspended the chief judge and his deputy. Elections come next year.