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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
This is a breaking news story and may be updated as events unfold and further information becomes available.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has issued an order requiring that Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal (TK) accept four judges whom opposition-aligned President Karol Nawrocki has refused to swear in.
The decision was welcomed by the Polish government, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying that it must be enforced. However, a spokeswoman for the TK, whose chief justice is also aligned with the opposition, says that the ECHR “does not have the authority” to rule on this issue.
Europejski Trybunał Praw Człowieka rozstrzygnął jednoznacznie sprawę wybranych przez sejm sędziów Trybunału Konstytucyjnego. Państwo ma obowiązek usunięcia wszelkich przeszkód uniemożliwiających im orzekanie. Dotarło?
— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) May 6, 2026
In March, the government’s majority in the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, elected six new judges to fill vacancies on the 15-person tribunal. However, under the law, judges only take up their positions after taking an oath before the president.
Nawrocki, who regularly clashes with the government, invited only two of the six to be sworn in, arguing that there were doubts over the legality of the Sejm’s election of the judges.
That prompted the remaining four judges to organise their own alternative swearing-in ceremony in parliament before a notary, later submitting their oaths to the president in writing. But, when they turned up at the TK to begin their terms, they were rejected by chief justice Bogdan Święczkowski.
The unprecedented situation has added to a broader crisis surrounding the rule of law in Poland, where officials and courts aligned with the formerly ruling national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party have sought to block reforms and appointments made by the more liberal ruling coalition led by Tusk.
On Wednesday, the four judges announced that the ECHR had, at their request, issued an interim measure requiring that they be allowed to take up their positions on the tribunal. The European court itself has, at the time of writing, not published any confirmation or details of the ruling.
“The European Court of Human Rights has unequivocally resolved the matter of the Constitutional Tribunal judges selected by the Sejm,” announced Tusk on social media. “The state is obliged to remove all obstacles preventing them from adjudicating.”
“This is not a request. This is not a suggestion. This is a decision that the relevant public authorities in Poland are obliged to carry out,” added justice minister Waldemar Żurek. “It is immediately effective and enforceable.”
Europejski Trybunał Praw Człowieka w Strasburgu powiedział jasno: państwo nie może blokować wybranych zgodnie z prawem sędziów Trybunału Konstytucyjnego.
Zabezpieczenie wydał jednomyślnie siedmioosobowy skład ETPCz. Jest natychmiast skuteczne i wykonalne.
To nie jest prośba. To…
— Waldemar Żurek (@w_zurek) May 6, 2026
That position was rejected by Nawrocki’s chief of staff, Zbigniew Bogucki, at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
“In Poland, the supreme law is the constitution,” said Bogucki, and “the TK is the only competent body to assess the compliance of given actions by the authorities, including in the area of jurisdictional disputes”.
He noted that Nawrocki last month filed a motion to the TK requesting that it rule on whether the four judges should be accepted onto the court. While that ruling is pending, “all issues concerning the dispute are suspended”, said Bogucki.
Europejski Trybunał Praw Człowieka po raz kolejny interpretuje swoje kompetencje w sposób skrajnie rozszerzający, wkraczając w materię, która nie została mu powierzona ani przez Europejską Konwencję Praw Człowieka, ani przez państwa-strony Konwencji.
Zgodnie z art. 1 EKPC,… pic.twitter.com/SpvfAJugdv— Kamila Borszowska-Moszowska (@Kamilabormosz) May 6, 2026
His position was echoed by a spokeswoman for the TK, Weronika Ścibor, in a statement to news website wPolityce after the ECHR’s decision had been announced.
“The ECHR does not have the authority to adjudicate on the constitutional structure of Poland,” she said. “It also cannot oblige any Polish body, including the government, to interfere with the powers of the highest judicial authority, the Constitutional Tribunal.”
Ścibor also noted that the ECHR is a court of last resort, once all domestic legal avenues have been exhausted, and “we are not aware of any ongoing or even initiated domestic legal proceedings in this matter”.
The spokeswoman added that the TK has not received any formal notification yet from the ECHR of its reported decision.
Przypominamy, że do kompetencji Europejskiego Trybunału Praw Człowieka nie należy orzekanie w zakresie ustroju konstytucyjnych organów Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej ani wykonywanie zadań sądu pracy. Nie może także zobowiązywać jakiegokolwiek polskiego organu, w tym rządu, do…
— Trybunał Konstytucyjny (@TK_GOV_PL) May 6, 2026
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Mickaël Schauli/Wikimedia Commons (under CC BY-SA 4.0)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
