In a letter to the General Assembly of Judges of the Constitutional Tribunal, President Karol Nawrocki sharply criticized the government’s refusal to publish the Tribunal’s judgments and called for the urgent restoration of rule-of-law standards, emphasizing the threat to citizens’ rights and freedoms. “In a democratic state governed by the rule of law, no public authority may arrogate to itself the right to deem the Constitutional Tribunal’s rulings nonexistent,” the letter states.
In the letter read during the General Assembly of Judges of the Constitutional Tribunal, President Karol Nawrocki drew attention to a serious constitutional crisis affecting the Polish justice system.
“Unfortunately, since the parliamentary elections in 2023 and the current coalition’s assumption of power, we have witnessed an unprecedented and unrestrained attack on the Constitutional Tribunal. (…) Its judgments are not being published or implemented,”
he wrote.
The President pointed out that the Tribunal’s rulings, in accordance with the Constitution, are binding on all state authorities, and that the current actions of the authorities – refusing to publish issued judgments – are unacceptable:
“However, in a democratic state governed by the rule of law, no public authority may arrogate to itself the right to deem the Constitutional Tribunal’s rulings nonexistent. The current actions of the government, consisting of the refusal to publish the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgments, must be considered unlawful – especially when they concern citizens’ rights and freedoms directly,”
he wrote.
In the letter, the President also stressed that the crisis has multiple dimensions: from blocking the publication of judgments, through limiting the Tribunal’s funding, to obstructing judicial appointments and questioning judges’ status. He called for the urgent restoration of the rule of law:
“I regard the restoration in Poland of the basic standards of a modern state governed by the rule of law as one of the most urgent tasks facing the political class and our entire civic community.”