Germany’s Role in Polish Politics
The dispute over the Supreme Court reform has featured sharp claims from Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro. He has repeatedly argued that the head of the EU and the European Commission are dominated by German leadership and that German influence shapes the political landscape in Poland. In discussing the opposition’s decision not to block the draft amendment to the Supreme Court law, Ziobro was asked how he would respond and whether Solidarna Polska expects President Andrzej Duda to veto the measure.
Ziobro reiterated his view that Donald Tusk acts as a German collaborator in Polish politics, and he asserted that Germans are steering the European Commission and, by extension, the political process in Poland.
Germany’s role
According to Ziobro, Germany is at the forefront of the campaign against the Polish state and is undermining the Polish legal system. He stressed that the president’s powers are under attack and pushed back against the claim that the justice laws currently under criticism by the European Commission were drafted by the Ministry of Justice. He clarified that those laws were not created solely by the justice ministry.
Ziobro recalled that in 2017 President Duda vetoed laws proposed by the Justice Ministry. He explained that the opposition’s reform plans rested on the premise that there existed a group of judge-politicians within the Supreme Court who had crossed the boundary between the judiciary and politics. For him, the path to reform and restoring balance in the judiciary required leaving the Supreme Court with judges who understood that, once they step into the courtroom, their political views should stay outside the courtroom doors.
Assessment of the President’s Actions
Ziobro said that when the president proposed changes to the previous amendment of the Supreme Court Act, he started from a different premise. He argued that the president gave room to a cluster of judges who recognized the possibility of involvement by the Polish Parliament and the Polish President in political matters rather than purely serving the constitution. Since that moment, Ziobro claimed, problems began to accumulate—growing with further concessions and increasing demands from the European Union against the Polish state.
He linked these developments to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s December 2020 decision to expand the European Commission’s powers with new authorities related to conditionality and the National Recovery Plan. Ziobro described that move as a form of political blackmail, arguing that it used leverage to push reforms that favored external actors over Poland’s constitutional framework.
The discussion continues to watch how the Polish leadership navigates EU expectations while preserving national sovereignty over the judiciary. The narrative presented by Ziobro centers on independence from external influence and a insistence that reforms must come from within Poland, guided by constitutional principles rather than international pressure. The debate remains heated as all sides evaluate the potential implications of the proposed changes for the balance of power in Poland’s institutions and the country’s relationship with the European Union. The conversation reflects broader concerns about national autonomy, legal integrity, and the role of foreign actors in domestic governance. (Source: wPolityce)>