In certain matters there can be no compromise, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in an address on Saturday, referring to the crisis at the Constitutional Tribunal. “No one had any doubt that the Tribunal, in the form imposed by PiS, is not a real court,” he said.
In the address, the prime minister stressed that “the attack on the Tribunal and its judges is another stage in the process of destroying the rule of law in Poland by PiS” (Law and Justice, the party in opposition) and by Presidents Andrzej Duda and Karol Nawrocki. Tusk argued that, together with the parliamentary majority, he had made attempts to repair the institution.
“No one had any doubt that the Tribunal, in the form imposed by PiS, is not a real court,” he said. He noted that international institutions, Polish legal authorities and the public had judged it the same way.
Tusk said that all political forces and both presidents had been offered resolutions and bills that would have allowed the rule of law to be rebuilt together, but “it was all for nothing, everything was blocked by the president and PiS.”
He said that, in this situation, the government waited for the terms of the judges appointed by PiS to expire. He pointed out that the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, elected new judges, who took the oath, but the president did not administer the oath of office to them, and Constitutional Tribunal President Bogdan Święczkowski prevented them from starting work. “When, after many weeks of patient waiting, they decided to take up their duties (…), they were attacked,” Tusk said. He added that police “protected the Tribunal from the attackers.”
The prime minister compared the situation to a thief who snatches an elderly woman’s purse and, once caught, shouts that violence is being used against him. “Some onlookers, symmetrists, suggest that to smooth things over, the thief and the victim split the contents of the purse equally. In certain matters there can be no compromise,” he said. (PAP)
Prime Minister: I Am Sure the Tribunal Will Start Working; My Task Is to Ensure Its Security
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in his address that he is sure the Constitutional Tribunal will begin to function as it should, meaning independently and in accordance with the constitution. He added that his task, as a representative of the executive branch, is to ensure the Tribunal’s security and the conditions it needs to work.
In his Saturday address, Tusk said Poles had waited too long for “the treasure that is an independent, democratic Poland to be frightened and give way.” In his view, Poles had been “too successful in building a strong state for us to surrender it.”
– I am sure that the Constitutional Tribunal will begin to function as it should. Also independently of me, autonomously and in accordance with the constitution, the prime minister said.
Tusk noted that the task of the executive branch, which, as he stressed, includes him, is to ensure the Tribunal’s security and the conditions it needs to work. “I intend to carry out my task. Poland is strong, democratic and determined. It has not perished and it will not perish,” he said. (PAP)
Prime Minister: Even the President Cannot Enter Tribunal Grounds and Give Orders
For years, there have been organizations and politicians in Poland who want to destroy democracy and the rule of law, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in an evening address on Saturday about the situation at the Constitutional Tribunal. He stressed that in a state governed by the rule of law, a politician cannot enter the grounds of the Tribunal and give orders, even if he is the president.
The prime minister said that “shouting, lies and brawling cannot be a source of law in Poland, and they will not be.”
– A democratic state is the best system humanity has devised, and unfortunately the hardest to maintain. It is a source of Polish pride that democracy was the first sovereign Polish choice after the country regained independence, the head of government said, adding that democracy is “our tradition and the source of a success that is already loudly known around the world; thanks to it, we are growing stronger.”
Tusk stressed that “a state governed by the rule of law differs from the law of the jungle in that right is not decided by muscle and boorishness.” – In a state governed by the rule of law, a judge, even a petite woman, does not give way before an aggressive brute. A state governed by the rule of law cares for the weak just as it does for the strong, said the prime minister.
– In a state governed by the rule of law, a politician cannot enter the grounds of a court or tribunal and give orders or intimidate judges, even if he is the president. A state governed by the rule of law does not see party colors and does not know the concept of impunity, he said.
– Let’s call things by their name. For years, there have been organizations and politicians in Poland who want to destroy democracy and the rule of law, Tusk said, adding that it is not his job to judge their reasons for doing so.
– Is it greed, stupidity or treason? In the end the effect is the same, and it is no accident that they find support around the world among pro-Russian forces, and today, in this conflict, they benefit from the support of an army of Russian bots on the internet. They have even received public compliments from the Kremlin’s chief ideologist, the prime minister said, concluding that thread. (PAP)
