Poland’s deepening constitutional crisis escalated on Thursday, February 19th, as President Karol Nawrocki vetoed a key judicial reform bill backed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government, prolonging a bitter stand-off over the future of the country’s courts.
The legislation sought to overhaul the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS), the constitutional body responsible for nominating judges.
Under reforms introduced in 2017 by the former conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government, parliament was granted the power to appoint most KRS members. Tusk’s centrist coalition, which entered office in 2023, has aimed to restore the previous system under which judges themselves elected the majority of council members.
Announcing his veto, President Nawrocki warned that the bill would deepen divisions within the judiciary and create “immense legal chaos.” He argued that the change risked undermining the status of around 3,000 judges appointed under the current system, casting doubt over the validity of their rulings.
The act introduces segregation of judges and places the justice system in the hands of political interest groups. I strongly oppose dividing judges into better and worse.
The president also objected to provisions requiring KRS candidates to have at least ten years’ judicial experience and five years in their current post, arguing that such criteria would “arbitrarily exclude a significant group of judges.”
The Tusk government reacted angrily. Government spokesman Adam Szłapka said the veto meant Nawrocki had missed an opportunity “to end the chaos in the courts.” Tusk himself accused the president of acting “blindly, just to cause harm.”
However, the chaos stems largely from the government’s own actions since taking power.
Over the past two years, Tusk’s administration has refused to recognise the legitimacy of thousands of judges appointed during the PiS era, despite their formal nomination under existing law.
In November, Nawrocki declined to approve the nominations of 46 judges—judges who have refused to recognise the legitimacy of their colleagues appointed during the PiS era. At the time, the president said: “I will not grant nominations or promotions to those judges who question the constitutional and legal order of the republic.”
Supporters of the president contend that he is defending judicial continuity against political lawfare.
In a recent commentary for europeanconservative.com, former deputy justice minister Marcin Romanowski accused Tusk of pursuing “systematic destruction of the opposition under the pretext of restoring the rule of law” alleging that the government has ignored rulings of courts and the Constitutional Tribunal when they conflict with its objectives.
The European Union, which sharply criticised PiS’s judicial reforms, has been notably silent regarding the current government’s dismissals of court officials and restructuring of judicial bodies, as well as the persecution of its main political rivals through legal means.
This is unsurprising, given Tusk’s long-standing ties to Brussels, including his tenure as President of the European Council and his affiliation with the main establishment force, the centrist European People’s Party.
With Nawrocki pledging to submit his own legislative proposal and even raising the prospect of a referendum, the institutional deadlock shows little sign of easing.
Zoltán Kottász is a journalist for europeanconservative.com, based in Budapest. He worked for many years as a journalist and as the editor of the foreign desk at the Hungarian daily, Magyar Nemzet. He focuses primarily on European politics.
