President Andrzej Duda Vetoes SAFE Act Triggering Government and Market Backlash

Poland's President Andrzej Duda vetoed the SAFE act, triggering sharp criticism from the government and prompting a response from the Fitch rating agency, while the NSZZ Solidarność trade union demanded the disclosure of companies involved in the program, citing concerns over classified details. The veto immediately drew political fire, with Minister of Finance and Economy Andrzej Domański pointing to the economic costs of the presidential decision, according to reporting by wnp.pl. The Fitch rating agency also weighed in on the veto, though no confirmed information is available on the specific content of Fitch's remarks beyond their general commentary on the situation. Gazeta Polska described the veto as "a blow to the alliance with the USA," framing the decision in terms of its potential impact on Poland's strategic relationship with Washington. The decision set off a wave of political debate across Polish media, including a heated exchange on the Polsat News program hosted by Agnieszka Gozdyra.

Solidarity union presses for SAFE company list The NSZZ Solidarność trade union demanded that the companies involved in the SAFE program be publicly disclosed, objecting to what it characterized as "classified details" surrounding the legislation, according to wpolityce.pl. The union's position added a labor-movement dimension to the controversy, placing pressure on the government from a direction outside the standard parliamentary opposition. No confirmed information is available on the specific companies the union sought to identify or the legal basis for their classification. The demand reflected broader public unease about transparency in a program that had already become a flashpoint between the presidency and the governing coalition. The combination of the presidential veto and the union's call for disclosure suggested the SAFE act faced challenges from multiple political directions simultaneously.

Supreme Court delays immunity hearing over prosecutor doubts In a separate legal development, the Supreme Court postponed the hearing on lifting the immunity of judge Michał Lasota, citing doubts regarding the prosecutor involved in the case, according to Niezalezna.pl. Lasota is a Polish lawyer and judge who served as president of the District Court in Nowe Miasto Lubawskie from 2018 to 2022 and as president of the Regional Court in Olsztyn from 2022 to 2024, and who held the position of Deputy Disciplinary Spokesperson for Ordinary Court Judges from June 18, 2018 until July 31, 2025. The postponement meant the immunity question remained unresolved, with the court's reservations about the prosecutorial side of the proceedings introducing procedural uncertainty. No confirmed information is available on the specific nature of the doubts the Supreme Court raised about the prosecutor. The case added to a broader pattern of legal and institutional disputes that have characterized Polish judicial politics in recent years.

Constitutional Tribunal swearing-in raises law-versus-politics question Separately, debate continued in Polish public discourse over the filling of the Constitutional Tribunal and the swearing-in of its judges, with commentary from Antymatrix and oko.press questioning whether the process remained within legal bounds or had crossed into purely political territory. The oko.press outlet published an explanatory piece on the swearing-in procedure for Constitutional Tribunal judges, indicating that the mechanics of the process were themselves a matter of public confusion and dispute. The Antymatrix commentary framed the question in stark terms, asking whether filling the tribunal was still a matter of law or had become an exercise in political maneuvering. No confirmed information is available on specific names of judges whose swearing-in was under discussion. The tribunal question formed part of a wider set of institutional tensions running through Polish politics alongside the SAFE veto and the Supreme Court postponement.

Poland's rule-of-law disputes have been a persistent source of political conflict since 2015, when changes to the Constitutional Tribunal's composition first drew criticism from the European Commission and domestic opposition. The NSZZ Solidarność union, founded in 1980, has historically occupied an ambiguous political position, at times supporting and at times opposing successive governments. The Supreme Court's role in disciplinary proceedings involving judges has itself been contested, with reforms introduced after 2015 repeatedly challenged in Polish and European courts. The question of judicial immunity and its removal has become a recurring procedural battleground in cases touching on judges appointed or promoted during the post-2015 period.