Presidential spokesman Rafał Leśkiewicz said on Thursday that Nawrocki was willing to meet Tusk, but only if police withdrew from the Constitutional Tribunal and judges whom the president considers lawfully appointed were allowed access to the court.
Speaking to the Wirtualna Polska news website, Leśkiewicz dismissed Tusk’s invitation as a political maneuver.
Tusk extended the invitation on Wednesday during a ceremony in the northwestern city of Szczecin to christen the new ferry Bursztyn Unity.
He invited Nawrocki, his wife and children to his home in Sopot, on Poland’s Baltic coast, suggesting they share a traditional Christmas wafer before the holidays next month.
"My apartment is small, but there will be room for the two of us at the kitchen table," Tusk said, proposing they talk "as one Pole to another."
Leśkiewicz accused the prime minister of violating the constitution and using police to install people he described as "usurpers" at the Constitutional Tribunal.
The court, which rules on whether legislation complies with Poland’s constitution, has been at the center of a prolonged dispute over judicial appointments.
The confrontation escalated in late October following a contested change in the court’s leadership and the deployment of police to its Warsaw headquarters.
Nawrocki has refused to administer the oath of office to several judges elected by parliament, while the government maintains that their appointments are lawful.
Leśkiewicz said a meeting between the president and prime minister should take place, but insisted that Nawrocki’s conditions must first be met.
The two leaders have already failed to arrange private talks aimed at easing tensions over the court.
Their disagreements also surfaced during Wednesday’s Independence Day celebrations in Warsaw, where Nawrocki criticized Finance Minister Andrzej Domański over the state of Poland’s public finances.
He urged Domański to "do a better job for the country."
Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz defended Domański on Wednesday.
"The economy is not in such bad shape, Mr. President," he said, crediting Domański with drawing up "the largest military budget in Polish history."
Tusk criticized Nawrocki’s Independence Day speech, writing on X that the president could have tried to unite Poles rather than divide them, "at least on this special day."
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR/PAP