Tusk rules out compromise over Constitutional Tribunal after police deployment

Tusk's televised address

Prime Minister Donald Tusk addressed the nation on television at 20:00 on Saturday, 31 October, on the conflict over the Constitutional Tribunal (TK). He said the government would not retreat and ruled out any compromise with the right-wing opposition. Tusk described what he called scandalous events outside the tribunal building on Friday, 30 October, and argued that calm cannot be secured by giving way to lawlessness and violence.

“In certain matters there can be no compromise. Shouting, lies and brawling cannot be a source of law in Poland and they will not be.”

Police on the tribunal grounds

Warsaw police said their officers were on the tribunal's grounds between 17:00 and 18:00 on 30 October, acting on information from Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska. According to the police, that information pointed to possible threats to the life or health of the judges and staff and a risk of public disorder. Later reports described objects thrown at officers during the protest outside, and three people who jumped the fence onto the grounds were detained. Around 18:00 a notice on the tribunal's website announced a break in the duties of its president, Bogdan Święczkowski.

Tusk framed the same events differently and said legally elected judges had been attacked while trying to start work.

“Legally elected members of the tribunal were attacked. Police on the spot protected the tribunal from attackers.”

Blame and the oath dispute

Tusk placed responsibility for the crisis on Law and Justice (PiS) politicians and on presidents Andrzej Duda and Karol Nawrocki. He said the Sejm had elected new judges who took their oaths, but the president did not receive them, and that Święczkowski blocked the judges from working. Later official sources show that Nawrocki took the oath from only two of the six judges the Sejm elected on 13 March 2026, Magdalena Bentkowska and Dariusz Szostek. The others, including Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, signed their oath at a ceremony in the Sejm.

Judges elected by Sejm on 13 March 20266

Oaths taken by President Nawrocki2

Judges elected by Sejm on 13 March 2026

6 judges

Oaths taken by President Nawrocki

2 judges

Data from the article text

Reactions from the political camps

Michał Dworczyk, former head of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, told TVN24 that the speech was skilful, very cynical and full of hypocrisy. He accused Tusk of being the first prime minister of the Third Republic to send police to stop tribunal judges from working, and said Tusk was setting Poland alight through polarisation while presenting himself as a 'dove of peace'. Ryszard Kalisz, speaking on TVP Info, said Korwin-Piotrowska acted lawfully when she suspended Święczkowski, applying Article 130 of the act on the status of judges, and he blamed Nawrocki for breaking the constitution by refusing the oaths. Opposition politicians accused Tusk of manipulation and escalation, while politicians from the Civic Coalition (KO) backed his position. Łukasz Schreiber also criticised the address.

Next step: General Assembly on 3 November

Korwin-Piotrowska announced a General Assembly of the tribunal for 3 November. At least 10 of the 15 judges must take part for a quorum. Kalisz warned that without a quorum no resolutions would be adopted, and noted that the Tuesday session had been intended for adopting the budget.

“If there is no quorum, no resolutions will be adopted.”