Demonstrators gathered to express their support for Polish President Karol Nawrocki and to protest the government’s actions regarding the high court, in Warsaw, Poland, Oct. 31, 2026. (AA Photo)
The European Commission has called on Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki to accept the nomination of new judges at the centre of a constitutional crisis in the country.
“It’s for the Polish authorities to ensure that the constitutional court can function in conformity with the Polish constitution and in the respect of jurisprudence relevant to the European Court of Justice,” said a spokesman on Oct. 31.
Poland’s president Karol Nawrocki held crisis talks with political leaders on Oct. 31 after a dramatic showdown at the constitutional court in an escalating dispute over judicial independence.
The row over appointing the court’s judges has spawned a constitutional crisis in the EU country, where a centrist government is vying with a nationalist head of state and opposition.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government has been trying for weeks to force out the court’s judges, arguing they are not politically neutral.
He faces fierce resistance from the right-wing PiS party, whose former government appointed them.
Representatives of nationalist, far-right and some ruling coalition parties attended the talks at the presidential palace, while Tusk’s Civic Coalition party stayed away, according to Polish media.
