WARSAW — Poland’s political crisis deepened on Tuesday as nationalist President Karol Nawrocki launched a bitter attack on pro-EU Prime Minister Donald Tusk amid a furor over the politicization of judges at the country’s Constitutional Tribunal.

In increasingly heated exchanges, Nawrocki accused Tusk of using the court dispute for an illegal power grab, while Tusk defended his actions as vital to preserving the rule of law in the EU’s sixth-largest economy.

The long-running but highly charged judicial dispute dates back more than a decade and centers on the political appointment of judges at the top court by the previous administration of the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party that was in power until 2023.

Tusk’s government and the European Commission have insisted the court must be overhauled to conform with EU norms on impartiality, and on Friday suspended the court’s president and his deputy.

On Tuesday, eight judges elected by the current ruling majority led by Tusk convened the court and declared they had sufficient numbers to resume its long-stalled work.

Hitting back, Nawrocki used the televised opening of a National Security Council meeting, attended by Tusk and other political leaders, to attack the prime minister. Tusk was not given a chance to respond while the cameras were on.

“Full responsibility for every police officer outside the tribunal, for all the illegal actions, including suspending judges and issuing unlawful orders, lies with one man who is present in this room — Prime Minister Donald Tusk,” Nawrocki said, referring to Friday’s confrontations in front of the tribunal.

“I expect [the prime minister] to rein in his government’s ambitions and put an end to the illegal actions of his representatives inside the Constitutional Tribunal,” Nawrocki added.

Earlier, Tusk had accused Nawrocki of escalating the conflict and called on him to end his opposition to the judges elected by parliament.

“The president has a chance, and I hope he takes it, to stop attacking lawfully elected tribunal judges and allow them to work,” Tusk said before a Cabinet meeting.

Tusk also accused Moscow of exploiting Poland’s political turmoil and urged politicians not to become “useful idiots” as the squabble over the court’s fate intensifies.

As the National Security Council meeting ended, Tusk reiterated his main points on the tribunal but adopted a more conciliatory tone, offering Nawrocki a one-on-one meeting to “think about how to reduce tension.”

But he also said he was pleased that the “situation was stabilizing,” alluding to the fait accompli of the tribunal having resumed work. 

The feud over the tribunal is hardening Poland’s political divisions ahead of the 2027 parliamentary election, bringing a previously divided array of factions on the nationalist right into closer alignment against Tusk. For the prime minister, the crisis also serves as an opportunity to consolidate the voter base ahead of the election.

The eight judges elected by the current parliamentary majority held a general assembly Tuesday afternoon under Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, the judge who assumed control of the court Friday. Nawrocki and the right-wing camp do not recognize her authority.

The president also keeps refusing to swear in five of the eight judges. Instead, they took their oaths in the parliament in a ceremony that Nawrocki contends was null and void.

The eight voted to recognize themselves as a quorum, arguing that only 12 of the court’s 15 judges were eligible to participate after Korwin-Piotrowska temporarily suspended PiS-linked Tribunal President Bogdan Święczkowski and his deputy Bartłomiej Sochański. A third PiS-era appointee, Jarosław Wyrembak, occupied an improperly filled seat.

That reduced the required two-thirds quorum from 10 to eight, although Święczkowski and his political allies rejected his suspension and the quorum calculation.

The judges unanimously approved the tribunal’s draft budget for 2027 and drew names for disciplinary panels to consider proceedings against Święczkowski and Sochański.

Poland’s long-simmering rule-of-law issue reached boiling point this weekend. So, what now?

On today’s show, Zoya Sheftalovich and Kathryn Carlson unpack Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s efforts to undo judicial appointments made under the previous right-wing Law and Justice government. Tusk’s administration argues that removing these PiS-era appointees is essential to bringing Poland back into line with EU rule-of-law standards. But after this weekend’s turmoil, could the push backfire? And what could it mean for Tusk’s support ahead of next year’s elections?

Then, on to a crisis closer to home: Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever offered his resignation to King Philippe Monday morning, after failing to reach a budget agreement for 2027. Does that mean the government will collapse? Zoya and Katie go through what happens next.

And finally, RFK Jr.’s Make American Healthy Again campaign is coming to Brussels … at least when it comes to ultra-processed foods.

What are your thoughts on unhealthy, processed snacks and junk food? How should the bloc tackle them? Write in and let us know: You’ll find us on WhatsApp here or at +32 491 05 06 29.

Articles mentioned in this episode:

• Crisis over top court shapes Poland’s battle lines before 2027 election.
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s food fight is coming to Brussels.
• King mulls De Wever’s resignation as Belgian budget talks fail.

WARSAW — The battle over who rules Poland is being fought in front of a cream-colored palace in central Warsaw — surrounded by police and protesters — that houses the country’s top constitutional court.

Liberal, pro-EU Prime Minister Donald Tusk wants to roll back changes to the Constitutional Tribunal made by the previous nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party government, while President Karol Nawrocki is fighting — even physically — to keep the PiS-aligned judges in charge.

The government insists the court must be overhauled to restore rule of law and conform with EU norms on impartiality, while Nawrocki’s supporters accuse Tusk of backing a coup.

The clash comes to a head on Tuesday, when the eight judges backed by Tusk’s ruling parliamentary coalition plan to hold a meeting to approve the tribunal’s budget and consider disciplinary proceedings against its president, Bogdan Święczkowski, and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański.

They need a quorum of 10 of the court’s 15 judges to be present — meaning they need to peel away at least two justices chosen under the previous PiS government that ruled from 2015 to 2023.

The fight over the control of the tribunal is helping bring right-wing opposition parties together ahead of next year’s parliamentary election.

The crowd outside the tribunal protesting against Tusk’s government included PiS co-founder Jarosław Kaczyński alongside Grzegorz Braun, an extreme-right Polexit campaigner and antisemite whom Kaczyński had previously ruled out governing with. This time round, they took a selfie. Other right-wing leaders at the rally included former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and libertarian Sławomir Mentzen.

“There are plenty of differences between our programs. But ending Prime Minister Tusk’s government is the fundamental common goal,” Anna Bryłka, vice president of Mentzen’s Confederation party, told POLITICO.

Tusk’s Civic Coalition leads POLITICO’s Poll of Polls, but its smaller partners might not make it into the next parliament, opening the way for PiS and other right-wing parties, provided their leaders are able to work together.

The scale of the crisis could also galvanize Tusk’s supporters, who have been disappointed by the government’s failure to move rapidly to restore the rule of law.

“These elections will be crucial for Polish democracy. If a [right-wing] coalition came to power, they would eliminate independent institutions that could hold them to account, and take Poland out of the European Union, something they have openly discussed,” Borys Budka, a Civic Coalition member of the European Parliament and a former justice minister, told POLITICO.

Kaczyński last week raised the possibility of a Polexit.

“The crisis does provide an opportunity for both sides to sort of rally around one or the other,” said Ben Stanley, a political scientist with Warsaw’s SWPS University.

Troubled tribunal

The crisis dates back over a decade.

In October 2015, the Civic Platform-led parliamentary majority elected five Constitutional Tribunal judges — three to fill existing vacancies and two for seats coming open after a parliamentary election set for December. It was an attempt to do an end-run around PiS, which was leading in the polls and which won the election.

Although the tribunal later ruled that the two extra judges were improperly chosen, the new PiS majority went much further by declaring all five selections void, electing five replacements and having them sworn in by PiS-aligned President Andrzej Duda.

The legitimacy of the three new justices chosen to replace the properly elected ones was called into question.

“An independent Constitutional Tribunal is an obstacle to authoritarian rule. That is why Kaczyński began dismantling the judiciary in 2015 by targeting the tribunal first. If he returned to power, he would do exactly the same thing,” Budka said.

Over the following eight years, PiS reshaped the court through contested judicial appointments, leadership changes and procedural restrictions. In December 2025, the EU’s top court ruled that the tribunal did not meet the standards of an independent and impartial court because of irregularities in appointments made a decade earlier.

Tusk returned to power in 2023 promising to restore the rule of law, but his efforts were thwarted by Duda and Nawrocki, who won the presidency in 2025 with PiS’s backing. 

The immediate crisis stems from Nawrocki’s decision to pick and choose which of the eight judges appointed by the parliament he would swear in — which critics say is blatant violation of the constitution.

Święczkowski, the tribunal’s president, refused to let the new judges into the court’s building.

On Friday, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, citing her status as the judge with the longest service, suspended Święczkowski and his deputy Sochański.

Nawrocki reacted by abandoning an official trip to Senegal and turning his flight around over Spain on Friday to return to Warsaw. He arrived at the tribunal at 1 a.m. on Saturday. Footage showed him forcing his way in past Korwin-Piotrowska. The president’s camp insists it was Korwin-Piotrowska and other judges who had made unlawful physical contact with the president.

Święczkowski, who vows to come to the Tribunal’s gates daily to demand to be let in, insists he remains president and rejects the authority of the judges seeking control.

“Resolving the conflict is simple and possible without constitutional changes,” Tusk wrote Monday. He said Nawrocki should recognize judges lawfully elected by parliament, as required by the constitution, and allow them to take up their duties at the tribunal.

Tusk also accused Nawrocki of choosing a confrontation that could cost Poland dearly. He added that the democratic state would not yield to violence, regardless of “how powerful the external forces” supporting PiS and the far right might be.

The right hopes to use the crisis to oust Tusk.

“The solution is very simple. You resign, the president calls a new election and the people decide … You will not intimidate us, and we will not back down,” PiS deputy leader Przemysław Czarnek responded.

Zbigniew Bogucki, the head of Nawrocki’s chancellery, on Monday called the conflict “a battle for Poland’s democracy.”

Stanley, the political scientist, said the tussle over the control of the tribunal may only temporarily unite right-wing parties.

“There’s a narrative that has started to emerge that this is now the moment when everyone gets behind Nawrocki and PiS but there’s a lot of time to go until the next election,” he said. “And these are parties which are in many respects even more ideologically heterogeneous than the current governing coalition parties.”

The European Commission has reiterated that Poland’s parliament must have the right to appoint new judges, lending support to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in an escalating confrontation over the country’s Constitutional Tribunal.

The dispute pits Tusk’s government against President Karol Nawrocki over efforts to reverse judicial changes introduced by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government between 2015 and 2023, which drew condemnation from European courts over concerns about judicial independence.

Nawrocki, elected with PiS backing in 2025, has refused to swear in some Tribunal judges elected by the current parliamentary majority, while the court’s PiS-linked leadership has prevented them from working.

The Commission said it was closely monitoring developments and, in a carefully worded statement to POLITICO, appeared to show support for Tusk’s position.

“The Polish Constitutional Tribunal needs to be able to function in accordance with the Polish constitution and the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU,” Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law Michael McGrath said.

“This matters for every Polish citizen, and it is for the Polish authorities to ensure that,” McGrath added, stating that “the Venice Commission has been clear that appointing the new judges lies within the power of the Sejm [Poland’s lower house of parliament].”

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk vowed Saturday night not to back down on the dispute. “In some matters there can be no compromise,” Tusk said in an address to the nation, comparing calls for reconciliation to a thief demanding to keep half the contents of a stolen handbag.

“We have waited too long for the treasure of an independent, democratic Poland to be frightened into retreat,” Tusk said.

The prime minister also targeted Nawrocki, who turned his plane around mid-flight en route to Senegal and returned to Warsaw, where he pushed his way into the Tribunal shortly after midnight Saturday, confronting judges challenging its leadership.

“In a state governed by the rule of law, a politician cannot enter a court or tribunal and give orders or intimidate judges, even if he is the president,” Tusk said.

He pledged to ensure the Tribunal could operate independently and safely.

In his statement to POLITICO, McGrath stopped short of endorsing Friday’s suspension of Tribunal President Bogdan Święczkowski and his deputy Bartłomiej Sochański, a move that triggered the latest spat.

Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, taking charge of the Tribunal, suspended Święczkowski and Sochański after they blocked judges elected by the Tusk-led parliamentary majority from work for months. 

Nawrocki denounced the move as an unlawful takeover and held talks with parliamentary leaders Saturday, boycotted by Tusk’s Civic Coalition and its government ally, the New Left.

Korwin-Piotrowska has convened an assembly of Tribunal judges for Tuesday, potentially setting up another confrontation over who controls the court.

Gerardo Fortuna contributed to this report.

Poland’s constitutional court descended into turmoil Friday evening as judges barred from hearing cases moved to oust the institution’s nationalist-linked leadership, sparking accusations of a coup and tense protests.

Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, a judge with the court, ordered its president Bogdan Święczkowski and his deputy to be suspended for a month and announced she was taking charge. Święczkowski rejected her authority, accusing those involved of a “coup d’état,” while his deputy was turned away at the building’s gates.

The showdown marks an escalation in Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s struggle to undo the judicial overhaul carried out by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) former government. During its eight years in power, PiS filled the Constitutional Tribunal with its appointees, including Święczkowski and his deputy, placing it at the heart of Poland’s confrontation with Brussels over the rule of law.

Outside the tribunal, protesters clashed with police, who said objects had been thrown at officers and three people detained after climbing over the court’s fence. Police said they had deployed to maintain security following warnings of threats to judges and staff, but had not entered the building.

PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński took part in the protest and tried to force his way into the court building. He accused Tusk of staging a “coup” against the court and turning Poland into a “police state,” and demanded presidential intervention.

President Karol Nawrocki, a PiS ally and rival of Tusk, interrupted his official trip to Senegal, declaring, “At a moment like this, the president must be in Poland.”

Tusk was defiant. “Restoring the rule of law is our duty,” he wrote on X. “After years of PiS lawlessness, it’s a difficult, sometimes painful process that requires decisive action. There is no other way.”

The tribunal, which can strike down legislation, helped impose a near-total abortion ban under PiS and challenged the supremacy of EU law. Last December, the EU’s top court ruled that it failed to meet European standards of judicial independence.

But efforts to change the court’s makeup have met resistance. Nawrocki refused to swear in five judges elected by Tusk’s parliamentary majority. They took their oaths in parliament instead, but Święczkowski barred them from hearing cases.

Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek blamed the turmoil on Święczkowski, who he accused of turning the institution into his “private fiefdom” and preventing newly elected judges from doing their jobs.

“And now the judges have spoken,” Żurek told POLITICO.

Żurek, who also serves as Poland’s prosecutor general, said he submitted five requests to lift the immunity of Święczkowski and his deputy, backed by 50 volumes of case files. He defended Korwin-Piotrowska’s move as a decision by a legally appointed judge, insisting that the government had nothing to do with it.