Former minister Berek accuses President Nawrocki and Tribunal chief of seeking system overhaul

Maciej Berek, who served under Donald Tusk and was recently confirmed by a parliamentary majority as a judge of the Constitutional Tribunal, said President Karol Nawrocki’s rhetoric contains a single note: the ambition to create a system where one person controls whether the Sejm acts properly, judges are properly selected, and high offices are filled. He said the same note appears in the behavior of Tribunal president Bogdan Święczkowski, who told Berek he must ask the president before proceeding with certain decisions.

Berek stressed that the Constitution’s Article 2 defines Poland as a democratic state of law, limiting each public authority to its expressly granted powers. He clarified that an institution’s constitutional role does not automatically grant it sweeping political authority. Regarding Święczkowski’s immunity, Berek said prosecutors could request its removal, after which the Tribunal’s general assembly - excluding the implicated judge - would decide his fate. He denied any coordination with other judges to convene such an assembly.