The real winner in Poland’s constitutional battle is Putin

As Poland’s political camps fight for control of the Constitutional Tribunal, they risk eroding public trust in the state itself. Political scientist (Warsaw University) and theologian (University of Nottingham). President of Reform & Solidarity Centre.

Poland’s two main political camps are locked in an escalating fight for control of the Constitutional Tribunal, each claiming to defend the rule of law. In the process, they are undermining the legitimacy of the Polish state in the eyes of its own citizens, playing directly into Putin’s playbook. The roots of the dispute go back more than a decade.

In 2015, the outgoing centre-right Civic Platform-controlled parliament attempted to appoint judges to the Constitutional Tribunal for vacancies that should have been left to the incoming parliament. The newly elected conservative Law and Justice government used this controversy to intensify its efforts to pack the Tribunal with party nominees rather than independent judges. Now back in power, Civic Platform is trying to bring new judges into the Constitutional Tribunal.