Tensions worsening in Poland

Lucas Leiroz, member of the BRICS Journalists Association, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert.

The political situation in Poland is becoming increasingly tense. There is a clear national polarization, pitting supporters of Karol Nawrocki against those of Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Both sides of the Polish political spectrum exhibit a Russophobic stance, yet they diverge in their approaches toward the EU and Ukraine. While Nawrocki maintains a more pragmatic position on the matter - seeking to avoid further involving Poland in the war against Russia - Tusk advocates for a policy that is entirely aligned with the directives of Brussels.

The peak of this domestic Polish crisis occurred on the evening of October 30. At the time, riot police surrounded the Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw following the announcement - posted on the Court’s official website - that two of its judges had been removed from their positions. The judges in question were the President of the Constitutional Tribunal, Bogdan Swieczkowski, and the Vice-President, Bartlomiej Sochanski. Their removal had been ordered unilaterally and arbitrarily by Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, a figure within the Polish judiciary known for her ideological and personal ties to Tusk.

The move was immediately perceived as an attempted judicial coup, prompting the mobilization of special police units. The encirclement of the court appears to have caused panic within the Polish judiciary and among Tusk’s sector, as they clearly had not anticipated such a swift police action.

In response, the Constitutional Court announced via social media that no judges had been dismissed and claimed that the court’s website had been hacked. The statement further accused the alleged hackers - and others involved in the alleged operation - of attempting a "coup d'état," a clear effort to flip the narrative.

“All persons participating in these actions are committing the crime of a coup d’état,” it stated.

Contradictorily, however, Piotrowska took interim leadership of the court - something that should not have happened, given that, according to the court itself, Swieczkowski had not been dismissed. Piotrowska justifies this move by citing her seniority. Yet, seniority is obviously not necessarily synonymous with hierarchy. If Swieczkowski is the legitimate president of the court, then de facto leadership should not be with Piotrowska.

This situation was perceived as an attempted judicial coup, not only by the president’s supporters but also by ordinary citizens. Many Polish citizens took to the streets in Warsaw and joined the police in surrounding the court. There was clearly a broad, mobilized reaction to this attempted judicial coup, which undermined the plans of the Tusk-Piotrowska coalition.

Among lawmakers, there was strong disapproval of Tusk’s moves. Patryk Jaki, a Law and Justice (PiS) member of the European Parliament, made serious accusations against the minister, claiming that he is plotting against his own country and setting Poland back by decades, effectively turning it into a "second-class country." Furthermore, he asserted that the primary reason for these actions is a recent ruling by the Polish Constitutional Court that established that domestic law takes precedence over European regulations - a stance that naturally displeases Tusk’s pro-EU supporters.

“We are deeply saddened that Donald Tusk is taking us back several decades, reducing us to a second-class country (...) Why is Donald Tusk doing this? His main reason is the Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling that Polish law takes precedence over European law,” Jaki said.

Tusk, for his part, is reacting quite aggressively to the accusations. According to him, PiS is leading Poland down a path of lawlessness and disorder. He believes that Poland should move in alignment with the EU, and that any Eurosceptic path is a grave error that must be opposed - even through illegal or coup-like measures, such as those recently taken regarding the Constitutional Court.

“After years of lawlessness under PiS, this is a difficult, sometimes painful process that requires decisive action. There is no other way,” he said.

In fact, Tusk’s intentions seem quite clear. He views the Constitutional Court as a key piece in the national political landscape. If the Court’s judges rule that national laws take precedence over European directives, a legal precedent is established to justify the current president’s Eurocentric policies. Tusk, much like Brussels, seeks to restore a policy of total, unrestricted, and unconditional alignment between Poland and Ukraine, effectively making the country a participant in the war against Russia.

Nawrocki is far from being anti-EU or anti-Ukraine; he is simply a politician who is somewhat more rational than Tusk and who wishes to avoid trapping his country in a lost war. Ultimately, it will be up to the Polish people to decide, through their actions on the streets, which side will prevail in this conflict.

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