European Commission urges Warsaw to appoint eight Constitutional Tribunal judges
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Expresso das Ilhas
The European Commission is asking Polish President Karol Nawrocki to approve the appointment of eight judges to the Constitutional Tribunal, whose functioning is at the heart of an institutional crisis. The Commission says the appointments are the responsibility of the Polish parliament, while the dispute pits Donald Tusk’s government against the nationalist opposition, AFP reports.
The European Commission has called on Polish President Karol Nawrocki to approve the appointment of eight judges to Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal, following consultations with representatives of the centrist majority and nationalist opposition. A Commission spokesperson told Agence France-Presse that the Polish authorities must allow the court to operate in accordance with the Constitution and European Union law.
The appointment of the eight judges falls constitutionally to the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, according to the spokesperson. Karol Nawrocki refuses to ratify the appointments, while the Court of Justice of the European Union ordered the Polish authorities in May not to prevent judges appointed by the Sejm in March 2026 from taking office.
The request comes amid an institutional crisis between Donald Tusk’s centrist government and the nationalist opposition PiS, which was in power from 2015 to 2023. The Constitutional Tribunal has also been at the centre of a dispute between Brussels and PiS, with the European Union judging the court to be too dependent on political power.
The Commission had already asked Karol Nawrocki to approve the Polish judges on 31 October. The crisis deepened after judges removed the president of Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal on the same day.
