Polish opposition announces motion of censure against Donald Tusk's government

O leader of the Polish opposition party Law and Justice (PiS), Mateusz Morawiecki, today announced its intention to present a motion of censure against the Donald Tusk government in a context of the struggle for control of the Constitutional Court.

“ We will present a motion of censure against the government of Tusk”, said the nationalist politician, in a message published on social networks, in which he advocates the formation of a “technical government” led by the former president of the Marek Jurek parliament, and who would remain in office until the elections, in order to generate a “new parliamentary majority”.

Jurek's candidacy is open for discussion.

“He is a well respected and consolidated politician. He can also receive support from broad political groups, calm the situation and reach a compromise,” Morawiecki later explained in press statements.

The opposition leader is also committed to a “resumption” of the Constitutional Court, “a point where various political forces agree”.

“This was also underlined by the President of the Republic and the legitimate President of the Constitutional Court,” he said.

However, “this resumption cannot include those who are currently attacking the Constitutional Court,” he said, adding: “Its place is in the wastebin of history and in the bank of the defendants before independent courts.”.

“ Ending the disastrous mandate of this coalition is just the beginning. A concrete plan is needed for what follows, ensuring that the dramatic events we witnessed yesterday never happen again,” he said.

The motion of censure shall be tabled by at least 46 Members and shall include a candidate for prime minister.

This must be supported by an absolute majority of parliament – 231 votes – at least seven days after the motion is tabled.

Parliament consists of 460 deputies and the opposition controls only 212.

The Donald Tusk Government has been pushing for the appointment of up to six new members of the Constitutional Court in recent months, but the President, Karol Nawrocki – who was supported by the PiS – has only agreed to take two of them.

The conflict broke out definitively on Friday, when one of the court judges, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, unilaterally suspended the President of the Court, Bogdan Swieckowski, and his deputy, Bartlomiej Sochanski, for a month, while the seat of the Constitutional Court was surrounded by the police under Tusk's orders.

The Polish President called on the parties of the majority and the opposition today to try to find a solution to the political and institutional crisis.

“ Because of the threat to the internal security of the Republic of Poland, I call today for urgent consultations with representatives of parliamentary forces,” said Karol Nawrocki, in a statement read this morning in front of the Constitutional Court.

Considered too dependent on political power by the European Union (EU), the Constitutional Court was at the centre of a military arm between Brussels and the nationalists of the PiS during their mandates (2015-2023).

As of 2015, the Government of PiS appointed judges to that court with an assumed political alignment, whose legitimacy is not recognised either by the European Union or by the current centre-right Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

When he returned to power in 2023, Tusk, the former President of the European Council, promised to resolve the crisis, but so far it has not succeeded, since the appointments to the Constitutional Court proposed by his Government and the Diet (low House of Parliament) have not been formalized by the Head of State, which has blocked the process.