Zbigniew Ziobro spent eight years reshaping Poland’s legal system. Now, speaking from political asylum in Hungary, the former justice minister says the same system is being turned against him, and that he can only fight it from abroad. Ziobro, once one of the most powerful figures in Polish politics, ran the justice system under the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government from 2015 to 2023. He is now under investigation over the alleged misuse of public funds and the deployment of Pegasus spyware against political opponents — cases pursued by prosecutors under Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s centrist government. “My presence here isn’t an escape of any kind — it’s a form of fighting back,” Ziobro told POLITICO by telephone from Budapest, after Viktor Orbán’s government granted him asylum earlier this month. “Because here I can fight. There, I’d be stripped of any ability to do so.” Prosecutors say investigations linked to Ziobro are part of an effort to unwind decisions taken during his tenure, when sweeping judicial reforms gave ministers broad influence over prosecutors and disciplinary control over judges. Those changes put Poland on a prolonged collision course with Brussels and were later condemned by EU courts. Ziobro rejected those allegations and cast himself as a victim of political revenge. “I wanted to reform Poland’s judiciary — and that was never accepted, including by the EU,” he said. “They had the right to criticize me politically. They did not have the right to falsely accuse me of theft.” He accused prosecutors of using pre-trial detention as a political weapon against figures linked to his former ministry. As an example, Ziobro pointed to the case of two of his former aides and that of Michał Olszewski, a Catholic priest accused of misusing funds from a justice ministry program for crime victims. Olszewski spent months in pre-trial detention, and Poland’s ombudsman later cited instances of improper treatment. Hungary’s decision to grant Ziobro asylum has pushed the dispute beyond Poland’s borders, infuriating Warsaw and raising questions about the EU’s ability to enforce cooperation between member states. Poland’s justice minister, Waldemar Żurek, called the move a “dangerous precedent,” warning it could allow governments to shield political allies from accountability at home. From exile, Ziobro has broadened his attack. He accused the European Commission and its president, Ursula von der Leyen, of hypocrisy for condemning alleged rule-of-law abuses under PiS while tolerating what he called “lawlessness” under the current government in Warsaw. Polish officials reject that. Deputy Foreign Minister Ignacy Niemczycki on Monday pointed to assessments by international organizations showing that rule-of-law standards deteriorated under PiS and have improved since the change of government. “Given Poland’s political situation, not everything we would like to do is possible,” Niemczycki said, responding to a question from POLITICO in Brussels. “But what happens in practice matters far more. And speaking frankly, if Ziobro has fled to Hungary, then what exactly are we debating?” A DIVIDED RECEPTION AT HOME Ziobro’s safe haven in Budapest may not last. Hungary is heading toward a parliamentary election in April, with pro-EU opposition challenger Péter Magyar leading in polls. Asked whether a change of government could jeopardize his asylum status, Ziobro brushed off the question and instead mounted a vigorous defense of Orbán. “Hungarians will choose Orbán,” Ziobro said. “They know that in an unstable world, experience and the ability to protect the country’s security matter.” He rejected claims that Orbán’s ties to Russia reflected an ideological sympathy. Instead, Ziobro argued that Hungary’s reliance on Russian gas left it little room to maneuver. Back in Poland, Ziobro’s asylum has divided opinion. Polls suggest a majority of PiS voters see Ziobro’s stay in Hungary as a liability for the party. President Karol Nawrocki, a PiS ally, has offered only a cautious backing, warning that not everyone in Poland can count on a fair trial. Pro-PiS broadcaster Telewizja Republika has amplified Ziobro’s narrative of a witch-hunt, producing near-constant television coverage on police searches, detentions and court proceedings involving the former minister’s allies. From Budapest, Ziobro said he is writing a book about what he called “Europe’s hypocrisy and Tusk’s dictatorship,” as Polish tabloids chronicle his new life strolling about the Hungarian capital. He insisted his exile is temporary and said he plans to return to Polish politics, staging a comeback ahead of the 2027 parliamentary election. “I am convinced Tusk’s government will fall,” he said. “It will end in failure and he will have to answer for what he has done.”

Poland’s fugitive former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said he has been granted asylum in Hungary after claiming he faces political repression in his home country. “In this situation, I decided to take advantage of the asylum granted to me by the Hungarian government due to political repression in Poland. I would like to thank Prime Minister Viktor Orbán very much,” he wrote Monday in a social media post.  Ziobro, a senior figure in the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party that ruled Poland from 2015 to 2023, perceives an investigation against him as politically driven by the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk. “I have become the target of personal revenge by Donald Tusk and his circle,” Ziobro wrote, warning that members of the government would face “severe consequences.” He claimed the proceedings against him amounted to retaliation against the opposition. Polish government minister Tomasz Siemoniak slammed Ziobro. “Refuge in Hungary is a downright perfect summary of Ziobro’s career. The former Minister of Justice fleeing like a coward from the Polish justice system. Total downfall,” he commented on X. Ziobro was stripped of immunity in November last year, amid an escalating confrontation between Tusk’s government and the opposition Law and Justice. Several former Law and Justice officials are under investigation over alleged corruption during the party’s period in power. Ziobro is a key figure in an investigation into why and how the Law and Justice-led government allegedly purchased Pegasus spyware to surveil political opponents. If indicted, he could face up to 25 years in prison. Ziobro previously fled abroad. He said he had also applied for his wife to receive international protection. Hungary previously granted asylum to former Polish Deputy Justice Minister Marcin Romanowski, who faced 11 charges in Poland for misuse of public funds when he was deputy justice minister from 2019 to 2023.

Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music Wer regiert die Welt – und was treibt sie an? In unserem regelmäßigen Machthaber-Spezial geht es um die mächtigsten und umstrittensten Politikerinnen und Politiker unserer Zeit. Wir zeigen, wie sie denken, entscheiden – und was das für uns bedeutet. Eine Politikerin oder Politiker, alle zwei Wochen, ein Blick hinter die Kulissen der Macht. Die nächste Folge hört ihr am Dienstag, 30.12.2025. Dann mit einem Porträt der dänischen Ministerpräsidentin Mette Frederiksen. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. ⁠Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren.⁠ Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon Repinski:Instagram: ⁠@gordon.repinski⁠ | X: ⁠@GordonRepinski⁠. Legal Notice (Belgium) POLITICO SRL Forme sociale: Société à Responsabilité Limitée Siège social: Rue De La Loi 62, 1040 Bruxelles Numéro d’entreprise: 0526.900.436 RPM Bruxelles info@politico.eu www.politico.eu

BERLIN — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday clashed over war reparations and restitution for Germany’s Nazi-era destruction of Poland. The open disagreement between two leaders — who have vowed to mend often-strained relations between their two countries — cast a shadow over talks in Berlin that were meant to project unity and cooperation on a range of issues, including defense and support for Ukraine. Instead, the two leaders spent time sparring over the highly emotional issue of how Germany should attempt to make up for its actions during World War II. “We must keep memories alive, even painful ones,” Merz said alongside Tusk. “I hope that we can do this in a way that does not divide us, but brings us closer together.” But Tusk, under pressure from the opposition nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, took a harder line on the matter than he has in the past, criticizing Germany’s logic for refusing to pay war reparations to Poland. “We in Poland all believe that Poland has not received compensation for the losses and crimes of World War II,” Tusk said. After his reelection in 2023, Tusk had not highlighted the reparations demands of the previous PiS government, which called on Germany to pay €1.3 trillion for its 1939-1945 occupation of Poland. Berlin has repeatedly said the matter is legally “closed.” But on Monday, Tusk reopened the issue, criticizing the German argument that Poland waived its right to reparations in the 1950s when it was under the control of the Soviet Union. PiS politicians, including Poland’s current president, Karol Nawrocki, argue the waiver was made under Soviet pressure and can’t be taken at face value. On Monday, Tusk echoed that line. Friedrich Merz said Germany would press ahead with plans to construct a memorial dedicated to Polish victims of Nazi Germany in Berlin. | Kay Nietfeld/Getty Images “Germany is adhering to this formal diplomatic agreement from the 1950s,” Tusk said. “Those who know history know that in the 1950s, Poland had no say in the matter. And Poland’s waiver of reparations is not seen as an act that reflects the opinion of the Polish people. The Polish people had no say.” The renewed tensions over reparations threaten to complicate the two leaders’ efforts to smooth over differences on a range of issues, from disputes on national border controls to Berlin’s investigation of explosions that crippled the undersea Nord Stream pipelines carrying Russian gas to Germany. Tusk’s government has frequently made the case that, while there is a moral case for reparations, there is no way to legally make Berlin pay and therefore, pursing the matter only undermines Poland’s ties with Germany, its largest economic partner. At the same time, Merz came to office vowing to improve relations with Poland, traveling to Warsaw on his first full-day on office. Merz then said he saw the so-called Weimar Triangle — an informal alliance between Germany, Poland and France — as a potential engine for shaping a more robust European defense strategy. On Monday, Merz’s government announced a series of other steps designed to ease Polish resentments over Berlin’s refusal to pay reparations, though those measures were unlikely to placate many Poles. Merz said Germany would press ahead with plans to construct a memorial dedicated to Polish victims of Nazi Germany in Berlin, and his government vowed to return Polish cultural artifacts plundered by the Nazis. Germany also pledged to “examine possibilities of providing further support to Polish victims of the Nazi aggression,” according to a joint declaration. That pledge alluded to a proposal by former Chancellor Olaf Scholz to financially compensate still-living Polish victims of Nazi Germany. But the plan has yet to materialize. Tusk expressed frustration about this on Monday, arguing time is running out. “When I discussed this with Chancellor Scholz, the figure [of people who were still alive] was just over 60,000,” said Tusk. “Today it is 50,000 people.” “Please, please speed things up if you really want to make this gesture,” he said, adding that if Berlin doesn’t move faster, then Warsaw will use its own money to compensate victims. Despite the disagreement, Merz and Tusk said they are in close contact over developments in Ukraine and negotiations over a possible peace deal. That pledge alluded to a proposal by former Chancellor Olaf Scholz to financially compensate still-living Polish victims of Nazi Germany. | Michael Bahlo/Getty Images Tusk called the level of cooperation “truly unprecedented” and warned of the risk of playing up divisions between the two countries. “We have radicals on both sides of the border” who are “interested in stirring up anti-German sentiment in Poland and anti-Polish sentiment and moods in Germany,” he said. “But I am convinced that they will not be able to achieve their goals.”

Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music Bärbel Bas und Lars Klingbeil wirken in Partei und Regierung angeschlagen. Die Arbeitsministerin stößt beim Arbeitgebertag auf scharfe Ablehnung und findet kaum Zugang zur Wirtschaft. Der Vizekanzler sucht weiter nach einer eigenen Rolle und spürt die Distanz zur eigenen SPD. Gordon Repinski zeichnet nach, wie Führungsschwäche und Unsicherheit die Partei prägen und warum sich die Frage nach einem Kurs für die kommenden Jahre immer dringlicher stellt. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview spricht Sebastian Roloff, wirtschaftspolitischer Sprecher der SPD, über die Ausrichtung der Partei. Er erklärt, warum die Partei aus seiner Sicht niemanden außer den politischen Gegnern von rechts bekämpft, wie er die Rolle der Wirtschaft bewertet und weshalb die Koalition trotz Spannungen handlungsfähig bleiben müsse. Danach richtet sich der Blick auf den Besuch von Donald Tusk in Berlin. Hans von der Burchard ordnet ein, wie eng Deutschland und Polen angesichts globaler Unsicherheiten zusammenrücken müssen, welche Fortschritte bei Verteidigung, Infrastruktur und Gedenken möglich sind und wo es zwischen Berlin und Warschau weiter knirscht. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon Repinski: Instagram: @gordon.repinski | X: @GordonRepinski. Legal Notice (Belgium) POLITICO SRL Forme sociale: Société à Responsabilité Limitée Siège social: Rue De La Loi 62, 1040 Bruxelles Numéro d’entreprise: 0526.900.436 RPM Bruxelles info@politico.eu www.politico.eu

WARSAW — Poland will close Russia’s last consulate in the country in retaliation to what the government says was a Moscow-backed attempt at sabotaging an important rail line last weekend, Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said Wednesday. “I have decided to withdraw consent for the operation of the last Russian consulate,” Sikorski told a press briefing. “This will be communicated to the Russian side in the coming hours in an official note. We do not plan to break off diplomatic relations [with Russia], just as other countries don’t do so when acts of terror or sabotage take place on their territory,” he added. Sikorski’s announcement came after he delivered an address to parliament that called on opposition-aligned President Karol Nawrocki and opposition lawmakers to stop attacking the European Union, Ukraine and Ukrainians living in Poland. He also said Russia spends “billions” on sowing divisions in the EU and fomenting anti-Ukrainian sentiment — of which there has been an outpouring in Poland after the rail sabotage incident. Polish authorities said the perpetrators were two Ukrainian nationals working for Russia who are now in Belarus. The last operating Russian consulate in Poland is in the coastal city of Gdańsk. Poland had previously shut down Russian consulates in Kraków and Poznań in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine and hybrid sabotage incidents in Poland. The Gdańsk consulate will close by December 23, Polish news website Onet reported, quoting Russian diplomat Andrei Ordash speaking to the Russian news outlet RIA Novosti. Russia’s remaining diplomatic post will then be its embassy in Warsaw, even though its future appears uncertain after a motion to call on the government to evict it reportedly won approval of the ruling coalition and most of the opposition, meaning it might be up for a parliamentary vote soon. Since last weekend, Poland has been dealing with the aftermath of what Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said was a Russia-orchestrated attempt at destroying an important rail line linking Warsaw to Lublin, a major city in the east, and on to Ukraine. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Wednesday that relations with Poland were at a low point. “The relationship with Poland has fully degraded. This [Gdańsk consulate closure] is a sign of the decline and of the Polish authorities’ intent to reduce to zero any possibility of consular or diplomatic relations. We can only express regret,”  Peskov said in his morning briefing, according to the Interfax news agency. Moscow will scale back Poland’s diplomatic and consular presence in Russia in retaliation, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told the government-owned TASS news agency.

WARSAW — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has welcomed an EU plan that could allow Poland to be partially or fully exempt from taking in migrants. “As I said, Poland will not take in migrants under the Migration Pact. Nor will we pay for it. The decision has been made. We don’t talk, we act,” Tusk wrote on X Tuesday evening.  The European Commission on Tuesday announced which EU countries will be eligible for assistance in dealing with migration pressure, and which countries will be exempt from helping out as part of an EU Solidarity Pool. It said that Poland — as well as Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia and Estonia — face significant migratory pressure and may request exemptions from the Solidarity Pool, which requires that member states accept a quota of asylum seekers, pay for each person they decline to take in, or offer another form of assistance. The Polish government called the Commission’s plan a “major success,” saying Warsaw had lobbied for months to be recognized as among the countries facing “very serious migratory situations,” notably because of pressure at the Belarusian border and its role in hosting millions of refugees from Ukraine.  “Our partners [in the EU] know it very well, we’re subject to a very big migration pressure and … we must not face any more commitments. The solution is that we will be able to apply for the exemption now and we will be able to do that in the future,” government spokesman Adam Szłapka said at a Wednesday press briefing. The Commission’s annual migration assessment, released Nov. 10, found that irregular crossings into the EU were 35 percent lower in the July 2024 to June 2025 period compared to the previous 12 months. Still, several EU states continue to face sustained pressure from irregular arrivals and what Brussels describes as the “weaponisation of migration” by Russia and Belarus. Tusk’s enthusiasm marks a U-turn on his earlier rhetoric. In 2021, as he toured Poland to canvass support ahead of the 2023 election that elevated him to power, he described migrants on the Polish-Belarusian border as “poor people seeking their place on Earth.”  Migration has become one of the top issues in Polish politics, with most parties — both in government and opposition — against accepting asylum seekers under EU quotas. It will be up to the European Council to decide which member states must contribute to solidarity measures and which get exemptions, based on assessments provided by the Commission.

WARSAW — Polish lawmakers voted to strip former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro of his parliamentary immunity and green-lighted his arrest Friday evening, marking an escalation of the political power struggle between the coalition government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party. Tusk made holding PiS to account for alleged corruption one of his headline promises in the campaign ahead of the 2023 general election, which his coalition won, ending eight years of PiS rule. Ziobro — who was justice minister in two PiS administrations — is a key figure in a probe seeking to find out why and how the PiS government allegedly purchased Pegasus spyware to spy on political opponents. The spyware purchase is part of a wider scandal, the Tusk government claims, involving alleged misuse of the so-called Justice Fund — a special pool of money under the justice minister’s control that was set up to help crime victims. Prosecutors accuse Ziobro specifically of leading an “organized crime group” in the Justice Ministry that embezzled some 150 million złoty (€35 million) from the Justice Fund. Other charges include lack of oversight and mishandling of documents. If indicted, Ziobro could face up to 25 years in prison. The parliamentary action on Friday was actually a series of 27 separate votes — one vote on each of the 26 charges levied against Ziobro by the prosecutors, plus a final vote on detention and arrest. The final vote was 244-198 against Ziobro, with no abstentions. A final decision to arrest Ziobro lies with the court. “Let the law always mean law, and justice — justice,” Tusk said on social media after the votes, referring to the name of the opposition party. Ziobro, who has been in Budapest since late October, denies all the charges. The former minister accused Tusk of acting to preempt corruption charges against himself. Tusk “knows that we were conducting, under my supervision, investigations into suspected corruption in which he may have been involved,” Ziobro told broadcaster TV Republika after the parliament’s action. PiS has stood firmly behind its former minister, attacking the government for exacting political revenge on the minister and accusing the administration of a lack of ethics in going after Ziobro, who has been undergoing treatment for esophageal cancer. “The prosecution has been taken over by force and has been operating illegally since. I believe it may take some time, but all those involved will face justice — and today’s developments will certainly increase their sentences,” PiS Chairman Jarosław Kaczyński told reporters in the parliament, according to Onet. Ziobro has been observing the events in Budapest, where he has found a safe haven alongside another former Justice Ministry official, Marcin Romanowski, who was granted political asylum by the administration of Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Ziobro also met with Orban last week. Ahead of the vote, Ziobro hinted he would not apply for asylum and plans to return to Poland. “Since this issue came up while I’m here, I decided to stay a bit longer, but I won’t extend my visit indefinitely. I will inform you of my next decisions in due course,” Ziobro said.

WARSAW — Poland’s government on Friday put forward a proposal for civil partnerships that strains the ruling coalition, disappoints LGBTQ+ rights activists and has little chance of being signed into law by right-wing President Karol Nawrocki. The issue has haunted the four-party coalition headed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk since it won power from the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party two years ago.  Efforts to move on the issue were blocked by frictions within Tusk’s four-party coalition, with the resistance led by the agrarian Polish People’s Party (PSL). That forced the government to put forward a bill that tries to keep PSL on board, but does little to satisfy the coalition’s centrist and left-wing backers because it offers a civil partnership status that falls well short of marriage. Tusk underlined the unsatisfactory compromise that produced the legislation. “The nature of this coalition … lead to a situation where either there is complete deadlock and nothing can be done, or a compromise is sought that will certainly make people’s lives easier and more bearable … although no one will be jumping for joy,” Tusk told reporters. Nawrocki, a PiS ally, has long made clear he would oppose legal provisions establishing “quasi-marriages” or otherwise threatening the traditional institution. Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of PiS, denounced the bill on Friday, saying it was not only “grossly unconstitutional, but aims to replace traditional marriage with pseudo-unions.” PSL and PiS are long-time competitors for votes in the conservative Polish countryside, where the Roman Catholic Church still holds sway. Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, the leader of PSL, said he does not find that the proposed civil union status mirrors marriage. “It makes life easier,” he said. “It’s not a proposal of our dreams, it’s a proposal of the coalition reality and with Karol Nawrocki as president,” Katarzyna Kotula, the Left’s minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, told a press briefing in the parliament Friday, referring to months of talks with PSL on the issue. INOFFENSIVE LEGISLATION As officials presented the basics of the proposal, Kotula treaded carefully, making no direct mention of LGBTQ+ families, marriage, or adoption — all no-goes for the agrarians. “The proposal excludes any provisions related to children, such as custody or adoption. There only are practical measures intended to make life easier for Poles,” Urszula Pasławska, a PSL MP, told the briefing.  “The law would not, in any way, infringe upon or undermine the institution of marriage,” Pasławska added. Under Poland’s constitution, marriage is defined as “a union between a woman and a man.” Poles’ support for marriage equality ranges from 40 to 50 percent, depending on the poll, but backing for civil partnerships is higher. The draft legislative proposal, titled somewhat awkwardly the “law on the status of a close person in a relationship and on a cohabitation agreement,” seeks to define rights and obligations between partners in an informal relationship. It doesn’t specify the sex of the partners. The draft outlines provisions on “mutual respect, support, care, loyalty and cooperation for the common good,” Kotula said. It guarantees the right to shared housing, mutual alimony, access to each other’s medical information, exemption from inheritance and donation taxes, and joint tax filing for couples who declare shared property. The draft would also provide relief from civil transaction taxes, entitlement to a survivor’s pension, inheritance under a will, access to health insurance for both partners and care leave. But that falls far short of allowing same-sex couples to get married — something that’s increasingly common in other EU countries. The bill got tepid praise from the Campaign Against Homophobia, an NGO. “It proposes modest, cautious measures that offer a little bit of safety to those who previously had none. It’s a step forward — but so small and careful that it’s hard to see in it the courage that all families in Poland truly deserve,” it said. In the campaign’s latest annual ranking of LGBTQ+ rights, Poland is the second-lowest in the EU, a slight increase from previous years when it was last. LGBTQ+ rights organization Miłość Nie Wyklucza (Love Does Not Exclude) said the proposal does contain some progressive solutions, but it creates the danger of freezing further progress, said Hubert Sobecki, one of the group’s leaders. “What am I supposed to do now, kiss their hands in gratitude? We’re going to have two kinds of people in Poland. Those who can marry legally and enjoy all that comes with it and those who don’t,” Sobecki said.

WARSAW — Poland’s centrist government is pushing to restore the rule of law undermined by the previous populist administration — but the country’s divided politics mean the chances of success are slim. The justice ministry presented its plan on Thursday — an effort to fulfill a key election promise of the coalition government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, which took power in late 2023. The key issue is figuring out what to do with thousands of judges appointed under the former Law and Justice (PiS) party government in a process that both Polish and European courts ruled was flawed and undermined judicial independence. “We’re about to decide what to do about these so-called neo-judges and how to handle their cases so that court proceedings move faster without triggering lawsuits in European courts — mainly the European Court of Human Rights — that end up costing the Polish government in compensation,” Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek told POLITICO in an interview, adding that the previous judicial nomination process had “infected” the court system. Restoring the rule of law is the main job for Żurek, a former judge brought in by Tusk this summer to roll back PiS’s judicial overhaul and hold its officials to account. Under PiS, which ruled Poland from 2015 to 2023, relations between Warsaw and Brussels soured due to growing concerns that the government’s changes to the judicial system were undermining the EU’s democratic rules. In response, the European Commission froze billions in EU cash, while the EU’s top court levied massive fines against Poland. Just weeks after taking power, Tusk was able to get the Commission to release €137 billion on the promise that he would end the rule of law dispute by bringing Poland’s justice system back into line with EU norms. But that early effort was stymied by slow government action and by a hostile PiS-aligned President Andrzej Duda, who vowed to veto any legislation undermining PiS-era legal reforms. Newly elected President Karol Nawrocki, also aligned with PiS, is also vowing to resist any changes to the system set up by the previous government. Speaking while on a visit to Estonia on Friday, Nawrocki said he would study Żurek’s proposal, but that the minister’s recent actions “do not inspire optimism,” accusing him of “brutally” violating the law and the constitution. POLITICIZING THE COURTS Poland’s problems with the rule of law date back to the political takeover of the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) by PiS in 2018. PiS stacked the judge-appointing body with judges elected by the parliament, which the party controlled at the time, while earlier KRS members had largely been chosen by judges themselves.  Poland’s Supreme Court and Europe’s top courts — the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights — found the KRS lacked independence and verdicts issued by about 2,500 KRS-appointed judges are at risk of being overturned. Restoring the rule of law is the main job for Waldemar Żurek, a former judge brought in by Tusk this summer to roll back PiS’s judicial overhaul and hold its officials to account. | Aleksander Kalka/NurPhoto via Getty Images The ECHR is currently holding off on resolving several hundred cases concerning such judges, pending Poland’s attempt to address the issue. The court gave Poland until November to fix it. According to Żurek, Poland is paying dearly for the mess PiS created as it attempted to build what he called “an authoritarian system,” in which courts would protect ruling party interests.  Poland was hit with 3 billion złoty (€700 million) in penalties from the Court of Justice of the EU, and has so far paid 5.5 million złoty in compensation for rulings issued by improperly nominated judges. The Tusk government managed to limit new nominations by the KRS, but now wants to take a sledgehammer to the system set up by PiS.  NEW COURT SYSTEM Żurek’s proposal would allow judges first appointed by the KRS to keep their jobs, but anyone who the KRS promoted would have to return to their old post, and they’d have to take part in recruitment contests to climb back up the hierarchy. KRS-appointed judges would be barred from the Supreme Court, where they currently account for about 60 percent of the justices, and that court’s top judge, Małgorzata Manowska, would be ousted. The KRS itself will also undergo an overhaul when the terms of its members expire in April. Żurek aims to use legislation enacted by PiS for the Tusk-led parliamentary majority to vote in replacements. Unlike under PiS, the list of nominees will be prepared by other judges and then presented to parliament in a bid to end the politicization of the KRS. Żurek said his reform proposal is an effort at a compromise. “There were calls to dismiss them all and make them face disciplinary proceedings. We’re not doing that,” he said. “There are different categories of these so-called neo-judges. KRS’s involvement in some nominations was very limited.”  But the reaction from PiS is fierce. “Waldemar Żurek is a man who should spend many, many years in a state prison — and I believe he will,” PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński said Tuesday.  Żurek is already under legal threat from the association of judges linked to PiS, which is pursuing a criminal complaint alleging he kept a crocodile at home in breach of Polish animal welfare regulations. “They keep bothering me about the crocodile. It’s a funny story, but I can’t talk about it right now because there’s an ongoing criminal case,” Żurek said.  A HOSTILE PRESIDENT Although Tusk’s coalition has the votes in parliament to pass his proposal, it doesn’t have the votes to override a Nawrocki veto. The Tusk government managed to limit new nominations by the KRS, but now wants to take a sledgehammer to the system set up by PiS. | Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images PiS is gearing up to battle Tusk’s centrist Civic Coalition for power in the 2027 parliamentary election, and is working to scuttle the government’s program. “I believe that the president wants to bring about a change of government, so all reform bills, all bills that would even improve the lot of citizens, in my opinion, could be vetoed,” said Żurek. If the effort fails, Żurek said he has a “Plan B,” but he gave no details. That puts the government in a bind, said Jakub Jaraczewski of Reporting for Democracy, a think tank focused on rule of law issues in Europe. “You can insist on sticking to the letter of the law, but that means clinging to standards designed for a normal, democratic and pluralistic system — not one that’s broken and needs fixing,” Jaraczewski said.  “Ignoring Polish law and following EU law and the European Convention on Human Rights directly is a nice idea, but Poland is a very formalistic country. Everything here is regulated, and people expect national law to be the main reference point, not some creative reinterpretation of foreign rulings,” Jaraczewski added.