The proposed constitutional amendments, drafted by the PSL and announced by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, will be reviewed by the Sejm Commission. There, officials will analyze the text and work toward a coherent changes package, according to PSL MPs in an interview with PAP.
Tusk and Kosiniak-Kamysz push for constitutional reform. TK in the wings
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that an inter-ministerial team, initiated by Justice Minister Adam Bodnar, has begun its work and will put forward a proposal for a straightforward constitutional amendment.
The aim, as he described it, is to tailor the change to safeguard the foundations of the legal order, for example by ensuring that elections for the Constitutional Court are conducted with broad, cross‑party recognition.
“That is the direction,” he stated.
Deputy Prime Minister, Head of the Ministry of National Defense, and PSL leader Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz also commented on the constitutional changes.
“A new chapter for the Constitutional Court is needed. We will circulate these proposals to all parliamentary groups,”
the PSL leader indicated in mid‑January.
The Deputy Prime Minister clarified that the changes he seeks to the Constitution mainly concern a fresh chapter on the Constitutional Court.
“Choosing within a different majority – I would prefer a 3/5 threshold. I would maintain a system where the length of judges’ terms is clearly defined. In the first term, some judges would be kept longer, others shorter,”
he explained. “That would reset the current team’s tenure.”
When asked about the possibility of a single, unified plan, the question was whether two parallel projects might emerge—one from PSL and one from the government—or if there would be a single initiative.
Krzysztof Paszyk, head of the PSL‑TD club, stated that both tracks share a common objective: to improve the functioning of the Constitutional Tribunal and heal divisions in the constitutional framework.
“We have our own idea, and a second idea will be developed at the government level. The most important thing is that there is one purpose,”
Paszyk noted. When pressed about whether a single project would eventually be created, he added that “a constitutional amendment requires consideration in committee.”
“It will be analyzed there and will certainly end up with a coherent plan,”
Paszyk said. He also mentioned that the PSL proposal was nearing completion.
Another PSL MP, Jarosław Rzepa, told PAP that he believes one project will ultimately surface. He also warned that the chances for passage in the Polish parliament are slim, given the current lack of a governing majority.
Rzepa argued that the current dual approach in several areas of the judiciary related to the Constitutional Tribunal and the National Council for the Judiciary makes a compromise essential — for the sake of the state’s functioning.
“It is dangerous for the state’s functioning,” Turnip asserted.
Any law amending the Constitution must be adopted by the Sejm by a two‑thirds majority in the presence of at least half of the legal number of deputies, and by the Senate by an absolute majority in the presence of at least half of its members.
There is anxiety about the direction of constitutional changes proposed by Tusk, PSL, and the governing coalition for December 13. Some see a potential effort to reassert control under the banner of compromise and legal order, while others call for careful restraint.
— A sharp statement from PiS leadership on the Polish situation. The call is clear: the government should honor the Constitution and its laws.
Karnowski commented that the “limited state of exception” introduced by Tusk is appearing less restrained, with concerns about a drift toward authoritarian measures.
Ast warned that attempts to override the Constitutional Tribunal would amount to a coup, not a mere creeping change. A video in Poland highlighted this concern.
Manowska, the former head of the Supreme Court, stated that as a citizen and former president of the Supreme Court, she has the right to be apprehensive about the trajectory and the risks involved. She described the situation as precarious, and warned of heading toward the abyss.
olnk/PAP/wPolityce.pl