The president of the Polish Constitutional Court accuses Donald Tusk of staging a 'coup'

The Republic of Poland is experiencing one of its most difficult political moments since the fall of communism in 1989.

The coup on the Rule of Law by the new center-left government in Poland
Backed by Von der Leyen, Tusk imitates Pedro Sanchez and assaults the Judiciary in Poland

An attack on the rule of law even worse than that of Pedro Sánchez in Spain

A year ago I wrote here about the coup to the rule of law by the centre-left government of Donald Tusk, president of Platforma Obywatelska (PO), the main Polish partner of the European People's Party (EPP). Things have only gotten worse since then. With the support of Ursula von der Leyen, Tusk has launched a hunt against members of the opposition, is carrying out an assault on the judiciary and even threatened to arrest the President of the Republic, Andrzej Duda, a member of the conservative party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS), a partner of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), Giorgia Meloni's group.

What is happening in Poland is something even worse than the blow to the rule of law by Pedro Sánchez in Spain and is being carried out by an alliance of the EPP and Socialist partners, who have been governing together since 2023 in Poland, following an electoral victory of the PiS without an absolute majority. Last year, the Polish Supreme Court denounced "a significant violation of the legal order of the Republic of Poland", following the arrest of opposition deputies in violation of their parliamentary immunity.

Following these arrests, former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki noted: "For the first time in 35 years, since the fall of communism and the great victory of the Poles over totalitarianism, we have political prisoners in Poland." Along the same lines, in January 2024 the Polish president denounced an "ostentatious violation of the "Polish Constitution", referring to those arrests.

The head of the Constitutional Court accuses Tusk of a 'coup'

Tensions in Poland have been mounting ever since, as Donald Tusk seeks to undermine the country's democratic checks and balances. The response from democratic institutions has also been growing. Yesterday, Bogdan Święczkowski, who will be elected President of the Polish Constitutional Court in December 2024, formally accused Tusk of a "coup d'état", announcing a 60-page complaint filed with the public prosecutor's office on 31 January.

Święczkowski believes that Tusk and his associates form “an organised criminal group”

In the complaint, Święczkowski accuses Tusk and other members of the ruling coalition of forming "an organised criminal group, at short intervals in execution of a premeditated intent, with the aim of changing the constitutional system of the Republic of Poland and acting with the aim of achieving or stopping the functioning of the constitutional body of the Republic of Poland, the Constitutional Court, and other constitutional bodies, including the NCJ [National Council of the Judiciary] and the Supreme Court." Święczkowski alleges that the defendants carried out "activities aimed at achieving these goals by means of unlawful violence and threats, suppressing the possibility of the functioning of the Constitutional Court and other constitutional bodies."

The president of the Polish Constitutional Court is not mincing words when it comes to describing the actions of Donald Tusk and his associates, as reported by the Polish daily wPolityce.pl:

"It is clear and obvious that we are facing a coup d'état in Poland. Of course, this is not a coup d'état that involves bringing the army out onto the streets, (…) this is a progressive and systemic coup d'état. This is a blatant abuse by the executive and legislative branches of government of their powers over the judiciary and other constitutional institutions. This involves taking advantage of various kinds of advantages, making criminal threats, among others, by preventing the payment of funds for the operation of the Constitutional Court or the National Council of the Judiciary, which constitutes a violation of the law and the Constitution."

Święczkowski announced that this Wednesday the deputy legal prosecutor, Michał Ostrowski, "has opened an investigation into this case".

Polish President denounces “serious violations of the Constitution”

On Wednesday, the President of the Republic of Poland commented on Święczkowski's complaint with these words:

"Without a doubt, we are faced with a series of repeated and continuous violations of the law by different persons who currently exercise executive power."

Andrzej Duda has pointed out that there are "serious violations of the Constitution" The Polish president believes that the president of the Constitutional Court considered that "citizens will not understand this extremely confusing labyrinth of violations of the law, which was created by the current government and simply decided that the prosecutor's office would deal with it, and not explain it on television."

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Photo: Leszek Szymanski / PAP. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.