Ex-minister Pełczyńska-Nałęcz calls for reset of Constitutional Tribunal amid leadership dispute

Exit from government

Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz announced on X on Thursday, 22 October, that she was leaving the government of Donald Tusk and stepping down as head of Polska 2050. She left the party in the hands of its founder, Szymon Hołownia, who had quit it earlier and then returned. In her account, the decision followed a coalition split in a Sejm vote on keeping two-term limits for local government leaders, a split in which a considerable part of Polska 2050's MPs sided against the public. Her exit also came after reports that finance and economy minister Andrzej Domański would be promoted to deputy prime minister. According to RMF, politicians from the coalition and colleagues in her party said she had left without warning, and Tusk said he had expected a phone call.

Expulsion from Polska 2050

On 24 October Hołownia announced that the party's board had decided to remove her. The board accused her of acting to the party's detriment and against its resolutions. Pełczyńska-Nałęcz then turned on her former colleagues, accusing them among other things of a violent style of governing, intimidation and humiliation. She said values mattered more to her than posts, which she gave as the reason for her resignation. Agnieszka Bartol, Poland's permanent representative to the European Union, is set to lead the funds and regional policy ministry, and Tusk said he would propose her for the post.

Crisis at the Constitutional Tribunal

On Friday, 30 October, a notice on the Constitutional Tribunal's website announced a break in the duties of its president, Bogdan Święczkowski, and vice-president, Bartłomiej Sochański. Polsat News describes it as a monthly break, and Święczkowski regards the steps as unlawful. President Karol Nawrocki interrupted a trip to Senegal and, after returning to Warsaw, went to the Tribunal building. Outside, a demonstration drew opposition politicians, mainly from PiS. RMF reports that Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, the judge with the longest tenure, took over running the Tribunal's work, a decision that drew reactions from judges, politicians and protesters. Police were present alongside right-wing groups including Ruch Obrony Granic, led by Robert Bąkiewicz. According to RMF, one protester, assisted by PiS MP Mariusz Gosek, used a grinder to cut the chain securing the gate.

Her reaction on X

On Saturday, 31 October, Pełczyńska-Nałęcz wrote on X about the events at the Tribunal and the coalition's response.

“The war over the Tribunal has brought us to a point where a politician and a locksmith are more useful in the Tribunal than a lawyer.”

She added that the silence of the coalition's co-leaders was no accident and that their voice did not matter anyway. She wrote that had she stayed in government a week earlier, she would have left it over the Tribunal events on 31 October. She proposed a single remedy.

“The only way out is a reset of the Tribunal. Without it there will only be further demolition of the courts and the state.”

She ended her post by saying she did not know who would gain from the crisis, but that Poles would not.