Polish President Cuts Senegal Trip Short

Polish President Karol Nawrocki abandoned his trip to Senegal on Friday, turning his plane around after a far-right ally was removed from the top of the nation's Constitutional Tribunal. The sudden change in plans intensified a bitter power struggle with Prime Minister Donald Tusk over who controls the judiciary.

The shift began when the Constitutional Tribunal announced that Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, its longest-serving judge, had suspended Bogdan Swieczkowski. Swieczkowski had served as the tribunal's president and was an appointee of the previous far-right administration. The tribunal stated that Korwin-Piotrowska was now in charge of the court.

Nawrocki announced his return on the social media platform X, stating that the president must be in Poland during such a moment. He confirmed he was cutting short his flight to Senegal to return home. The decision placed him directly in the middle of the escalating conflict with the government.

Tusk described his administration's actions as a necessary step to restore the rule of law. He noted that the European Union had previously accused his predecessors, the Law and Justice Party, of subverting legal standards. Tusk wrote that the process is difficult and sometimes painful, but that decisive action is the only path forward.

The dispute stems from events in 2015, when the nationalist Law and Justice Party sought to fill vacant judge seats that the previous government had already occupied. Their nominees eventually secured a majority on the tribunal, leading critics to question the court's independence. Tusk's coalition took office in 2023 with a pledge to reform the institution, but Nawrocki, elected president in 2025, has moved to block those efforts.

Tensions rose further earlier this year when Nawrocki refused to swear in three of six judges nominated by parliament. At the same time, Swieczkowski, a former deputy justice minister under Law and Justice, declined to seat judges chosen by the current parliamentary majority. Last month, parliament appointed Maciej Berek, a Tusk ally, to the tribunal, a move critics said contradicted the government's goal of restoring checks and balances.

Late Friday, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw. A heavy police presence surrounded the building as right-wing politicians addressed the crowd. They accused Tusk's government of staging a coup against the court, marking a new phase in the long-running political fight over the institution's future.