By Pawel Florkiewicz and Justyna Pawlak
WARSAW, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk sought to offer assurances that the country's Constitutional Tribunal will operate in accordance with the law, after President Karol Nawrocki, an ally of the previous hard-right government, accused him of staging a forced takeover of the court.
Late on Friday, the Constitutional Tribunal said its longest-serving judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska had suspended Bogdan Swieczkowski, the tribunal's president and an appointee of Tusk's nationalist predecessor, and was now in charge of the court.
The move escalated a battle between Nawrocki and Tusk's pro-European government over control of the judiciary.
"I am certain that the Constitutional Tribunal will function as it should. Also, independently of me and in line with the constitution," Tusk said in a televised speech.
"The task of the executive branch, and therefore mine, is to ensure its safety and working conditions, and I intend to fulfill my duty."
In a dramatic move, Nawrocki turned back his plane in which he was heading to Senegal late on Friday and headed for the court headquarters in central Warsaw, following Swieczkowski's suspension.
Riot police have been guarding the court since Friday afternoon, with several hundred protesters gathered to demand Swieczkowski's reinstatement.
"Tonight, there was a breach of public order in the Republic of Poland and a forcible takeover of a constitutional body," Nawrocki said in a statement read by an aide outside the court early on Saturday.
Nawrocki held political consultations throughout Saturday.
Tusk, writing on X, said his government was seeking to restore the rule of law, which the European Union had accused his predecessors — the Law and Justice Party — of subverting.
"This process is difficult, at times even painful, and requires decisive action. There is no other way," he said.
LONG-RUNNING POLITICAL DISPUTE
A long-running political dispute over the Constitutional Tribunal has effectively paralysed the institution, with the pro-European government and the nationalist president refusing to recognise appointees put forward by the other side.
The dispute dates back to 2015, when Law and Justice sought to appoint judges to seats already filled by the previous government.
Its nominees gained a majority on the Constitutional Tribunal, while critics at home and abroad said the court no longer met the standards of an independent and impartial tribunal established by law.
After Tusk's coalition took office in 2023 it pledged to restore the rule of law and reform the court, but Law and Justice ally Nawrocki has acted to thwart those efforts since his election as president in 2025.
Earlier this year, Nawrocki refused to swear in three of six judges nominated by parliament, while Swieczkowski, a former deputy justice minister in the Law and Justice administration, declined to seat judges elected by the current parliamentary majority.
Last month, parliament appointed Tusk ally Maciej Berek to the tribunal, which critics said undermined the government's stated goal of restoring checks and balances.
(Reporting by Justyna Pawlak; Editing by Susan Fenton and Fanklin Paul)
