Europe’s Venice Commission has recommended that Karol Nawrocki immediately swear in parliamentary-selected constitutional judges without vetting their selection. The October 2026 opinion addresses months of political deadlock over the Trybunał Konstytucyjny and introduces a backup mechanism allowing judges to take their oath without the president.
A fresh legal opinion from the Council of Europe’s advisory body has intensified a high-stakes institutional collision in Warsaw. Published on October 13, 2026, the guidance from the Venice Commission targets the standoff between Poland’s executive branch and the parliamentary majority over who holds final authority in seating members of the country’s highest constitutional court. The document was requested by the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, known as PACE, which serves as one of the most important standing committees of the Parliamentary Assembly monitoring member state obligations.
Venice Commission Rejects Presidential Veto Power Over Court Appointments
The advisory body—officially known as the European Commission for Democracy through Law and established in 1990 during the democratic transformation of Central and Eastern Europe—concluded during its plenary session held on October 9–10, 2026, that the head of state possesses no legal basis to delay or block judicial appointments made by parliament. International legal experts affirmed that the constitutional duty to administer an oath is ceremonial rather than discretionary. Representatives of the commission conducted prior consultations with the President’s Office, coalition and opposition parliamentarians, the Ministry of Justice, the Constitutional Tribunal, the National Council of the Judiciary, and the Ombudsman.
Trzy wnioski Komisji Weneckiej. Każdy z nich to jak oblany przez Nawrockiego egzamin z umiejętności bycia prezydentemMaciej Berek ma otwartą drogę, by złożyć ślubowanie wobec urzędu prezydenta, czyli nie osobiście wobec Nawrockiego. A wszyscy sędziowie TK, od których Nawrocki…
The commission emphasized that the swearing-in procedure cannot be executed in a way that undermines the legislature’s constitutional authority to elect judges. According to the text, the president should without undue delay administer the oath to properly elected candidates and must not treat the ceremony as an extra layer of screening over parliament’s decisions.
Proposed Alternate Oath Procedures for Blocked Judges
The standoff centers on five individuals elected to the constitutional tribunal during the current parliamentary term. Four judges—Krystian Markiewicz, Marcin Dziurda, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, and Maciej Taborowski—were chosen by the Sejm in March 2026, while a fifth, Maciej Berek, was selected in September. Karol Nawrocki declined to invite them for an official swearing-in at the presidential palace, arguing that formal requirements remained unfulfilled. In the case of Maciej Berek, presidential officials maintained that he needed to present documents confirming a ten-year professional practice as a legal advisor.
Prof. M. Muszyński:"Marszałek Sejmu zapowiada w półsłówkach, że będzie przyjmował ślubowanie osób wybranych do pełnienia urzędu sędziego TK zamiast Prezydenta, to jest dopiero prawdziwa tragedię państwa polskiego. (…) Tragedia polega na tym, że druga osoba w państwie chce…
To break similar impasses, the Venice Commission outlined an alternative pathway. The advisory text recommends that if a head of state refuses or delays the ceremony to obstruct the process, jurisdictions should permit judges to complete the oath without the president’s physical presence, provided that the alternative procedure preserves essential elements of the oath, maintains the prescribed form, properly documents the execution, and transmits the record to the president.
This path mirrors actions taken on April 9, 2026, when four of the unseated judges took their oaths in the parliament building—specifically in the Sejm’s Columned Hall—complete with a notary act that was subsequently submitted to the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland.
Government and Presidential Camps Clash Over Legal Weight of the Ruling
Domestic reactions split sharply along political lines following the release of the text. Donald Tusk asserted on social media that Venice Commission evaluations are respected by everyone except the sitting president. Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek similarly argued that the international body confirms the position of constitutional lawyers that the executive holds no veto power over parliamentary choices.
Constitutional law expert Prof. Marek Chmaj noted in interviews that the evaluation highlights a defeat for the presidential camp by confirming that a judge’s status does not depend on discretionary executive approval.
Conversely, the presidential administration dismissed the advisory text entirely. Presidential spokesperson Rafał Leśkiewicz told reporters that the document carries no legal force and that Poland’s sole sources of law are the constitution and domestic statutes. Leśkiewicz maintained that the four judges excluded themselves from the tribunal by participating in a political staging in parliament rather than fulfilling personal oath requirements at the presidential palace, noting additionally that a formal motion regarding a competence dispute had been submitted to the tribunal under Article 189 of the constitution.
Next Steps and Judicial Impasse in Warsaw
With the constitutional tribunal led by Bogdan Święczkowski, attention now turns to upcoming internal court meetings. Sufferers of the ongoing dispute include judges like Krystian Markiewicz, who publicly demanded that tribunal leadership immediately admit them to active adjudication work.
Simultaneously, the fate of Maciej Berek remains uncertain as he awaits an invitation that has stalled for over a month. President Nawrocki has previously referred jurisdictional questions regarding the tribunal dispute directly to the constitutional court for final resolution, while European bodies continue monitoring the wider compliance of member states with democratic standards.