President Karol Nawrocki declared that he is ready to discuss reforms in the justice system, but with respect for the Constitution. He also recalled the planned work on a new fundamental law, which is to be undertaken by the Constitutional Council. Nawrocki also referred to the “rap-style” statement made by Waldemar Żurek and responded with a modified version of it.
Nawrocki was asked on Polsat News about cooperation with Minister of Justice Waldemar Żurek on reforms in the justice system.
“Poland needs a return to the rule of law, so there will be a Council for the Restoration of the State System in the Presidential Palace,” Nawrocki replied, emphasizing that all his statements made, as he had said during his inaugural address, remain valid.
Dialogue but with conditions
Asked about Minister of Justice Waldemar Żurek’s declaration that he would cooperate with Nawrocki on the condition of reforming the Constitutional Tribunal, the Supreme Court, and the National Council of the Judiciary, bodies that, in the opinion of the current authorities, are politicized, Nawrocki replied that he is “ready to be the guardian of the Polish Constitution.”
“I am aware that Polish law is created in the Polish Sejm, in the Polish Senate, and must receive the approval of the President of Poland elected in direct elections, so I am ready to talk with Minister Żurek based on Polish law (…). I am ready for such talks, but the starting point must be respect for the Polish Constitution and for the Polish legal and constitutional system,”
the president stressed.
Nawrocki also referred to Żurek’s comment in which the minister quoted lyrics from a song by Paktofonika: ‘I am God’. Żurek, a former judge, was alluding to Nawrocki’s words from his inauguration day that “judges are not gods but are to serve the Republic of Poland.”
“The leader of Paktofonika himself, since we are in this poetic frame, tragically learned that he was not God. So if the Minister is watching us, I would like to tell him: ‘Mr. Minister, you are not God, realize that,’”
Nawrocki said.
A Constitutional Council Composed of Authorities
The President also recalled his previously announced plans for constitutional changes, which, he said, would be carried out by the Constitutional Council he intends to appoint.
“These will certainly be legal authorities from various political backgrounds. The goal is that in 2030, when Poles elect their president, they will also have the fruit of this work we will undertake in the Presidential Palace, above political divisions. To ensure that after 2030, the Polish Constitution guarantees both Poland’s sovereignty and clarity of competencies in cooperation,” Nawrocki said, expressing hope that the changes to the fundamental law would gain the support of the necessary parliamentary majority.
“Even though we have the Constitution of 1997, which is approaching its thirtieth anniversary, and that constitution is in force, it is valid, and I am its guardian, I believe that, regardless of political and party emotions, we all feel that we should work on solutions for a new fundamental law,”
he added.