Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki: Power wrestle over the Constitutional Court | EUROtoday

In Poland, the dispute over newly elected constitutional judges has escalated additional. After President Karol Nawrocki administered the oath to solely two of six elected judges final week, the 4 different judges alternatively took their oath earlier than the Polish parliament in Warsaw on Thursday.

Each of them started with the phrases “I address the President of the Republic of Poland” and continued with “I swear to the President of the Republic of Poland”. The two judges who had already taken their oath earlier than Nawrocki additionally appeared on the ceremony. They all invited the president, however he did not present up.

“The President of the Republic of Poland in no way recognizes what happened today in the Sejm,” mentioned the top of the Presidential Chancellery, Zbigniew Bogucki. This just isn’t an inauguration, however “a political farce, grotesque, a kind of political theater.”

In mid-March, the Sejm elected six constitutional judges with the required three-fifths majority. By legislation, they have to take an oath earlier than the president earlier than taking workplace. Until now, this had all the time been a formality, however Nawrocki, who sees himself as a declared opponent of Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s authorities, deviated from this process. According to main attorneys, by inviting solely two judges to take the oath within the presidential workplace, he violated the structure.

The President has no proper to refuse or delay the taking of the oath or to reject judges elected by Parliament. Other attorneys, then again, are of the opinion that the employment of judges solely begins in the intervening time the president takes the oath.

The Presidential Chancellery justified the “selection” by saying that solely two constitutional decide positions had turn into vacant throughout Nawrocki’s time period in workplace, which is why he solely administered the oath to 2 newly elected judges. However, there’s nothing about this within the legislation.

In reality, there’s a energy wrestle behind this for the courtroom, which the national-conservative PiS get together full of followers throughout its time in authorities with a easy majority. This led to a lawsuit by the EU Commission in opposition to Poland, which the European Court of Justice upheld in its entirety.

Since constitutional judges can solely be elected as soon as for a time period of 9 years, the departure of PiS judges creates the chance to fill the courtroom independently and restore the rule of legislation, as Tusk promised within the election marketing campaign. By solely taking the oath from two judges, Nawrocki secured their capability to work, but in addition the PiS’s management over the courtroom in the intervening time. The authorities doesn’t acknowledge rulings by the politicized Constitutional Court.