The dismantling of the rule of law in Poland by Donald Tusk’s government has been ongoing ever since it came to power in 2023. The Tusk administration has systematically undermined the status of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal, the body that controls the constitutionality of laws, and thus plays a key role in the country’s legal system, by refusing to publish its rulings and questioning its competence. Similarly, Donald Tusk’s coalition arbitrarily recognises or does not recognise other institutions, court rulings, or specific judges, and has bypassed the legislative or appointment processes envisaged by the constitution on several occasions.
For example, the appointment of Dariusz Korneluk as national prosecutor was in defiance of the president of Poland, who, according to the Law on the Public Prosecutor’s Office, must agree to the dismissal of the incumbent prosecutor and to the appointment of their successor. President Andrzej Duda did not approve the dismissal of prosecutor Dariusz Barski, yet Minister Adam Bodnar unilaterally declared his term of office completed and appointed Korneluk in his place. Taking control of the prosecutor’s office and the public media has enabled those in power to use these institutions to fight their political opponents.
The former minister of justice, Zbigniew Ziobro, in a recent interview on the YouTube channel of the right-wing weekly Do Rzeczy, drew attention to the alarming state of the Polish justice system. He pointed to drastic staff shortages in the police force, which affects the safety of citizens. Ziobro accused the authorities of using not only police and counter-intelligence officers to harass opposition representatives and simple citizens, but also public media reporters who are sent to his house to disturb his family and neighbours.
Patryk Jaki, former deputy minister of the Law and Justice (PiS) party and MEP, found himself targeted by the prosecutor’s office for liking a post on X. The post contained a video showing authentic cases of violence performed by illegal immigrants.
His case is further evidence of how the current government uses the state apparatus to harass its political adversaries. Not so long ago, such actions would have been unthinkable—today, the prosecutor’s office is considering taking Jaki to court for expressing sympathy with content that the ruling party did not like.
On February 5th, the Polish political scene was rocked by the accusation of a coup d’état made by President of the Constitutional Tribunal Bogdan Święczkowski against Prime Minister Donald Tusk and leading government officials.
Święczkowski submitted a 60-page notice to the prosecutor’s office, in which he accused the highest state authorities of acting to subvert the constitutional order.
In his notice, Święczkowski accused Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Sejm Speaker Szymon Hołownia, Senate Speaker Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, and other members of the government of having formed an ‘organised criminal group’ seeking to seize control of key state institutions such as the Constitutional Tribunal, the Supreme Court, and the National Council of the Judiciary.
Following the notification, Deputy National Prosecutor Michal Ostrowski opened an investigation into the alleged coup.
Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar initially downplayed the case, describing the actions of prosecutor Ostrowski as a ‘private investigation.’ Prime Minister Donald Tusk addressed the accusations by dismissing them as irrelevant, stating that suggestions that there has been a ‘coup’ in Poland gripped the media headlines only in Russia, Belarus, and Hungary. He thus suggested that the coup narrative could be used by foreign states to destabilise the situation in Poland.
Shortly after these events, Minister Adam Bodnar decided to suspend prosecutor Ostrowski for a period of six months. This decision has been perceived as a clear attempt to silence independent investigations into the highest state authorities.
Despite numerous signals about violations of the rule of law in Poland, the European Commission—the self-appointed distributor of certificates of virtue—continues to remain passive. The institution, which previously criticised and punished the PiS government for its alleged rule of law breaches, is now silent in the face of blatant violations of the law by Donald Tusk’s government.
It is obvious that the European Commission has long ceased to be an impartial institution concerned with the implementation of the Treaties. Instead, the ‘rule of law’ has become a tool for it to discipline countries that dare to oppose Brussels’ centralist ambitions. Hungary, which consistently insists that the Commission should only act within the limits set by the Treaties, is constantly attacked for its independence. Poland under the Law and Justice government was treated similarly. Donald Tusk, it seems, gets a free pass even when engaging in the most blatant violation of the law.
