Poland's president accuses Tusk of forced takeover of country's top court

Key Points:

• Polish President Karol Nawrocki accused Prime Minister Donald Tusk of orchestrating a forced takeover of the Constitutional Tribunal after the suspension of its president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, an ally of the previous far-right government.
• The suspension of Swieczkowski by the tribunal's longest-serving judge, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, escalated a power struggle between Nawrocki and Tusk's pro-European government over judicial control.
• Nawrocki condemned the takeover as a breach of public order and called for urgent political consultations, while Tusk defended the move as necessary to restore the rule of law, which the EU has criticized the previous government for undermining.
• The Constitutional Tribunal has been paralyzed by a long-standing dispute since 2015, with both sides refusing to recognize each other's judicial appointees, leading to concerns over the court's independence.
• Efforts by Tusk's government to reform the court have been consistently blocked by Nawrocki and allies of the former Law and Justice administration, deepening the institutional deadlock.