Poland's Political Crisis Deepens as EU Backs Eight Judges, Tusk Rebukes Nawrocki

The European Commission intervened on Saturday, urging Poland's President Karol Nawrocki to allow eight parliament-elected judges to take their seats on the Constitutional Tribunal, escalating a political crisis in Warsaw. The call follows unprecedented clashes at the Tribunal, where police were deployed and Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused nationalist opponents of attacking legally elected judges. Tusk vowed no compromise with "lawlessness," while a judge suspended the Tribunal's president and vice president for one month. The dispute stems from a decade-long conflict over judicial independence, with the EU challenging appointments made under the previous PiS government. Tusk's government faces institutional deadlock as Nawrocki refuses to swear in the new judges.