Tusk blames Law and Justice, Duda and Nawrocki for Poland’s rule-of-law collapse

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the attack on the Constitutional Tribunal and its judges was another stage in the destruction of the rule of law by the Law and Justice party and Presidents Andrzej Duda and Karol Nawrocki, stressing that the tribunal imposed by the party was not a real court.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk held the opposition Law and Justice party and Presidents Andrzej Duda and Karol Nawrocki responsible for what he described as the destruction of the rule of law in the country. He made the remarks in a televised address to the nation on Saturday evening about the escalating crisis surrounding the Constitutional Tribunal.

Tusk said: “The attack on the tribunal and its judges is another stage in the process of destroying the rule of law in Poland by the Law and Justice party and Presidents Duda and Nawrocki.” He praised the police, saying they were dealing with every manifestation of aggression “very calmly but firmly.”

“It was not a real court”

Tusk said he had tried to reform the tribunal together with the parliamentary majority, adding: “No one had any doubt that the tribunal imposed by the Law and Justice party was not a real court. This was the assessment of international institutions, Polish legal authorities and public opinion.”

The prime minister described what happened around the tribunal building on Friday evening as “shameful events.” He expressed hope that such scenes would not recur in Poland, but stressed that preserving peace “cannot mean submitting to chaos and violence,” and that a democratic state must be strong and capable of enforcing justice.

The thief and the elderly woman’s bag

To illustrate his position, Tusk compared the situation to a thief snatching an elderly woman’s bag and fleeing, then shouting when caught that he was being subjected to violence. He criticized those who propose dividing the contents of the bag between the thief and the victim to calm the situation.

He added that those seeking to destroy democracy in Poland receive support from pro-Russian forces around the world and are benefiting in this conflict from “an army of Russian bot accounts” online.

The crisis began on October 30, when Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, who was elected by parliament but whose oath of office Nawrocki refused to accept, suspended the duties of Tribunal President Bogdan Święczkowski and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański, for one month. The president cut short his visit to Senegal and traveled to the tribunal that night.

Tusk blames Law and Justice, Duda and Nawrocki for Poland’s rule-of-law collapse