Germany’s two largest dailies, FAZ and SZ, returned in commentaries published Monday to the events surrounding the Constitutional Tribunal in Poland. The commentators point to the enormous difficulties of restoring the rule of law after the rule of the Law and Justice party (PiS).
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) writes about a “Polish dilemma” and stresses that there was no coup in Poland. “On Friday, Poland saw neither a putsch nor a coup d’état,” explains the paper’s Warsaw correspondent, Stefan Locke. “Parliament, the government and the president, all democratically elected, have kept their offices and recognize one another,” the commentator noted.
The fact, however, is that a “full-blown power struggle has erupted” between national-conservative and liberal forces over the Constitutional Tribunal, which “should actually be neutral.”
In Poland, the Tribunal has not been neutral since 2015, because after taking power PiS filled judicial posts with party politicians “as it saw fit.” Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government has been trying to straighten out the situation in the judiciary since 2023, but President Karol Nawrocki is preventing it. “By refusing for political reasons to administer the oath to legally elected judges, the president is exceeding his authority, because the law does not give him such a right,” Locke believes.
Tusk is now trying to force a decision, “also using questionable methods,” FAZ writes. “Suspending the Tribunal’s president, who is obedient to PiS but in full possession of his mental faculties, is questionable at the very least,” the commentator assessed.
“Poland shows a dilemma that critics foresaw long ago: PiS’s violation of the rule of law can be healed only through another violation (of the law). Legal peace suffers as a result,” FAZ writes in the conclusion of its commentary.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung writes that for Poles, the escalation of the dispute over the Tribunal is “not only disturbing but also embarrassing.” Author Viktoria Grossmann points to a post by a renowned lawyer saying that Poland looks like a “banana republic.”
The journalist refers to the circumstances of President Karol Nawrocki’s entry into the Constitutional Tribunal building. “Video recordings show the conduct of Karol Nawrocki, who likes to box in his free time and admits to his hooligan past,” Grossmann writes, adding that with such people it is “hard to build a state, and especially a state governed by the rule of law.”
Grossmann questions whether the Constitutional Tribunal can be saved by dismissing its current panel of judges and creating a new tribunal in agreement with both houses of parliament and the president.
“Reason does not appeal to a political opponent. Here we are dealing above all with the right-wing nationalist PiS, which is supported in part by far-right and radical-right parties. These people are not interested in negotiations and do not want to share power, which is why PiS, during its time in government, almost eliminated the separation of powers,” Grossmann writes.
“The complicated situation in Poland appears once again as a warning to all Europeans to strengthen their democratic institutions. It’s like going to the dentist: prevention protects,” she writes in her summary. (PAP)
