Poland’s political war heats up as premier brands president's camp 'Putinist front'

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Saturday accused President Karol Nawrocki and Poland's right-wing opposition of forming part of a "Putinist front" serving Russian interests, in one of the sharpest attacks yet in the country's increasingly bitter institutional conflict, Polish media reported.

Speaking at a congress of his centrist Civic Coalition (KO), Tusk said that Russia's strategy towards Poland was based on five aims: weakening the EU, driving a wedge between Poland and Ukraine, turning Poland against Germany, blocking efforts to strengthen Poland's military and undermining democratic institutions.

"Wherever we see Putin's interests being pursued, we see the people of PiS and Confederation," Tusk said, referring to the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party and the far-right Confederation grouping. He said Nawrocki, who was backed by PiS in last year's presidential election, was part of the same camp.

The remarks mark a further escalation in the political war between Tusk's pro-EU coalition government and Nawrocki, whose presidency has become the main institutional base for the conservative opposition since PiS lost power in 2023.

Tusk and his allies argue that Nawrocki has used his office to obstruct the government and to preserve elements of the PiS-era state. Since taking office last year, the president has vetoed or delayed a series of government measures, including legislation allowing Poland to draw on EU defense loans and a bill regulating the cryptocurrency market.

The latest and most serious dispute concerns the Constitutional Tribunal, where Poland is facing an unprecedented stand-off after Nawrocki refused to swear in four judges chosen by parliament. The government responded by holding an alternative swearing-in ceremony in the Sejm, the lower house, raising the prospect of rival judges and competing claims over who constitutes Poland's highest constitutional court.

Tusk's allies argue that the president is deliberately paralyzing democratic institutions. Nawrocki and PiS say the government is acting outside the constitution and attempting to seize control of the judiciary.

The dispute has revived memories of the rule-of-law crisis that dominated Polish politics during PiS's 2015-2023 rule and brought Warsaw into repeated conflict with the EU. Tusk has accused PiS of creating "chaos" in institutions such as the Constitutional Tribunal and of seeking to continue that strategy through the presidency.

In his speech, Tusk also linked the opposition's recent positions on Ukraine and the EU to what he described as Russian interests. He accused PiS and Confederation of becoming increasingly hostile to Ukraine and of trying to undermine Poland's cooperation with Brussels and Berlin.

With parliamentary elections due next year, Saturday's speech suggested Tusk is preparing to frame the contest not simply as a domestic political struggle but as part of a wider European battle over Russian influence, democratic institutions and Poland's place in the West.