Polish president turns back from Senegal trip after ally suspended from top court in judiciary battle

Polish President Karol ​Nawrocki turned back to Poland on Friday while en route to Senegal after a ‌far-right ally was suspended as head of the country’s top court, escalating a battle with Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government over control of the judiciary.Earlier on Friday, the Constitutional Tribunal said its longest-serving judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska had suspended Bogdan ​Swieczkowski, the tribunal’s president and an appointee of Tusk’s far-right predecessor, and was now in ​charge of the court.Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the tribunal late on Friday ⁠amid a heavy police presence, while right-wing politicians addressed the crowd accusing Tusk’s government of carrying ​out a coup against the court.“At a moment like this, the President must be in Poland.I ​am cutting short my flight to Senegal.

I am returning,” Nawrocki said on X.A long-running political dispute over the Constitutional Tribunal has effectively paralysed the institution, with the pro-European government and the nationalist president ​refusing to recognise appointees put forward by the other side.Tusk, writing on X, said his government was ​seeking to restore the rule of law, which the European Union had accused his predecessors — the Law and Justice ‌Party — ⁠of subverting.“This process is difficult, at times even painful, and requires decisive action.There is no other way,” he said.The dispute dates back to 2015, when the nationalist Law and Justice sought to appoint judges to seats already filled by the previous government.Its nominees gained a majority on the Constitutional Tribunal, ​while critics at home and abroad ​said the court ⁠no longer met the standards of an independent and impartial tribunal established by law.After Tusk’s coalition took office in 2023 it pledged to restore the rule ​of law and reform the court, but Law and Justice ally Nawrocki ​has acted ⁠to thwart those efforts since his election as president...