Sébastien Meuwissen is a graduate in journalism and social communications of IHECS (Brussels) and a Visiting Fellow at the Budapest-based Center for Fundamental Rights. Meuwissen has extensive political experience having worked among others in the European Parliament, the Polish Sejm, the cChancellery of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland, and the Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture.
Since Donald Tusk came to power almost a year ago, there have been numerous scandals and allegations of abuse of power. What is going on?
Since the arrival of the liberal government led by Donald Tusk, the foundations of what constitutes a properly functioning democracy—i.e., a country that respects the rule of law—have been undermined on several levels. I will focus on three main areas: the takeover of the public media by force, the persecution of political opponents, and finally the de facto destruction of the judiciary in order to place it in the hands of the government.
With regard to the public media, an attack was orchestrated with the approval of the Sejm on 19 December 2023. The minister of culture, Colonel Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, dismissed the chairmen of the boards of management of the public media: television (TVP S.A.), radio (Polskie Radio S.A.) and the Polish News Agency (PAP). He also dismissed the members of the board of management of each of these media in order to appoint new directors, in violation of the law. In April 2024, TVP was formally put into liquidation, although it continued to make programmes, broadcast, and even tried to expand. It seems that this decision was only to achieve political objectives and to rebuild it with ‘loyal’ people. All these changes were made without the approval of the National Media Council, the body that should have authorised them, and with the condemnation of the Constitutional Court, which declared them illegal. In essence, they have turned the public media into a propaganda channel for the Tusk government, and the most appalling thing was that it was done violently, with the use of police and private security.
In the words of Filip Styczyński, the former director of TVP World, the closure of the station was more typical of a regime like Lukashenko’s or Putin’s. Why do you think the government went to such lengths?
Only they know the answer. But I want to underline that this phenomenon can be observed elsewhere too. In Hungary, for example, some liberal forces have suggested plans to bypass existing laws, such as overriding statutes that require a supermajority with a simple majority and justifying this approach by claiming that the laws were originally enacted by an “undemocratic” authority. In Spain as well, there are talks about quite similar anti-democratic initiatives by the Left. Going back to Poland, when asked if they were crossing the line and doing something illegal, the interior minister replied, “We will look for a legal justification later.” This sentence perfectly explains the mentality of the Tusk government.
That is quite a statement of intent.
Of course, after Tusk was appointed prime minister, he said, “Everything will be done according to the law as we understand it.” This sentence also explains how he justifies the persecution of his political opponents who belonged to the previous government and who were arrested in many cases in a spectacular manner. Let me give you a few examples: the arrest of Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik, Law and Justice MPs, who were arrested despite having been granted a presidential pardon; the 24 hours-long police search of former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro’s house while he was in hospital fighting cancer; and the arrest of former Deputy Justice Minister Marcin Romanowski, who had immunity as a member of the PACE.
And we are not only talking about politicians. The most worrying case is that of a Catholic priest, Father Michał Olszewski, who spent half a year in pre-trial detention with two of his colleagues, Urszula and Karolina. They were subjected to mistreatment bordering on torture and reported that they were under constant surveillance, so the women had to go to the toilet in the presence of male guards! Father Olszewski was denied access to his lawyer, he was denied access to food and toilet for several hours, awakened in the middle of the night, and so on.
The Tusk government has also cut off state funding for Law and Justice. What can you tell me about that?
As in many European countries, political parties receive a certain amount of money from the state, and yes, there is a move to cut this funding. As far as I know, the decision is still pending and the judges who have to make the final decision are postponing the matter. So, de facto, Law and Justice is not receiving this state funding. We are talking about the biggest party in Poland, and this is another example of how things are at the moment.
What about the judiciary? What is Tusk doing to control it?
The independence of judges is under threat. In December 2023, the new minister of justice, Adam Bodnar, announced his plan to introduce an “independence test” to supposedly assess the impartiality of more than 2,500 judges appointed under the previous government. These judges were expected to make an official statement admitting that they had gone astray in accepting their appointment, which is insane. The Venice Commission, which was highly critical of the previous government, issued an opinion stating that the evaluation of the work of judges should be done on an individual basis and that any evaluation should be done by an institution independent of the executive branch of government.
The Tusk government is also challenging the status of judges appointed after 2017, and several presidents and deputy presidents of courts have been dismissed for their political views. The Sejm decided that all parliamentary decisions taken between 2018 and 2022 concerning the election of members of the National Council of the Judiciary are invalid and that these judges must immediately cease their activities. Again, the Venice Commission stated that these collective dismissals were unlawful.
Another high-profile case was that of the prosecutor.
Yes; in January, Adam Bodnar told the national prosecutor that the way he had been appointed did not respect the law and was therefore invalid. Bodnar fired him, bypassing President Duda, whose approval is required for the appointment and dismissal of the national prosecutor. In September, the Supreme Court ruled that the dismissal was illegal and that the national prosecutor, Dariusz Barski, must return to his post. This is yet another example of the Tusk government’s continued circumvention of the law.
And what does Brussels say?
Former Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller, himself a former left-wing MEP, admitted on television that the only so-called milestone required by the European Commission to unlock the frozen €137 billion for Poland was a change of government. It’s not even taboo; it’s like when Tusk says he’s going to break the law—it’s not a conspiracy theory because Tusk is an open book. The European funds were frozen because the Polish government was not to the EU’s liking. Although Tusk did not implement a single reform associated with the activation of Article 7, they were unfrozen a few months after the liberal coalition took power.
Is there a way out?
Yes, of course there is. There is hope and there is time to react. First of all, Trump’s victory was very good news because, until now, the U.S. ambassador to Poland acted as an activist for left-leaning forces and defended Tusk’s actions as a means of “restoring democracy.” It is to be expected that an ambassador sent by the Trump administration will be more reserved. Second, there is the presidential election. If the Right wins, there could be a domino effect leading to early elections and possibly a change of majority. Otherwise, as Tusk’s liberals admit, they will break the system.
What did you think of the election of Karol Nawrocki as the Law and Justice candidate?
Karol Nawrocki was a predictable pick. Until recently, he was generally unknown to the general public, but he has the strong advantage of never having been a member of any political party. With him as a candidate, Jarosłąw Kaczyński hopes to gather the support of other center-right and right-wing forces (especially the growing Confederation) who would be reticent to vote for a core PiS candidate in the second round. Saying that the stakes of this election are high would be an understatement. We can expect a brutal campaign.
