Tusk versus Duda power struggle
Polish court rejects dismissal of Attorney General
January 15, 2024, 10:24 p.m
The dispute between the new Tusk government and the PiS party in Poland is entering the next round. Now he’s also reaching out to the public prosecutor’s office. President Duda and PiS supporters are doing everything they can to prevent the new government’s reform plans.
In Poland, the highest court has blocked the dismissal of the prosecutor general, who is accused of involvement in the instrumentalization of the judiciary. “The Constitutional Court has issued a preliminary decision instructing the General Prosecutor and all public authorities to refrain from anything that could prevent Dariusz Barski (…) from exercising the office of public prosecutor,” the judges said in the statement .
This expands the dispute between President Andrzej Duda and the new government. The president is sticking with prosecutor Barski, who was fired by Justice Minister Adam Bodnar, as Duda’s office manager Marcin Mastalerek previously told Radio Zet. The dismissal was unlawful. The Justice Department justified its move by saying that Barski was retired at the time of his appointment. But the law doesn’t allow that.
The liberal government coalition led by pro-European Prime Minister Donald Tusk replaced the right-wing coalition led by the Law and Justice party (PiS) in December. But President Duda belongs to the PiS. In recent weeks, the Tusk government has begun to reverse several reforms introduced by the PiS, which were widely criticized at home and abroad as restricting the independence of the judiciary and media.
Domestic political tensions are increasing
The PiS’s judicial reform was met with sharp criticism in Brussels due to doubts about the rule of law. Billions of EU funds for Poland have been frozen because of the dispute. Tusk said he offered Bodnar his “full support” to make the prosecutor’s office independent. “I hope that the president will help us and not hinder us,” he said.
The dispute following the change of government is leading to increasing domestic political tensions. Last week, tens of thousands of supporters of the voted-out PiS gathered in front of parliament to protest against the imprisonment of two former ministers who were convicted of abuse of power. Duda announced that he would pardon the two politicians. The demonstrators had also protested against the replacement of the management of the state broadcasters. The government justified its actions by saying that the radio stations had degenerated into propaganda stations during the eight years in power of the PiS.