Venice Commission says Polish president should swear in Constitutional Tribunal judges

The Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s advisory body, has said Poland’s president should administer the oath to Constitutional Tribunal judges elected by parliament without delay.

The entrance to Poland's Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw.

Photo: Adrian Grycuk, CC BY-SA 3.0 PL , via Wikimedia Commons

In an opinion published on Tuesday, the commission said "the oath is taken before the President and is not subject to the President’s discretion."

"Consequently, the President cannot claim a power to review the procedure of nomination either."

The commission said the oath-taking procedure could not be interpreted or applied in a way that undermined the Sejm’s constitutional power to elect Constitutional Tribunal judges or gave the president a role in their selection that the constitution does not provide for.

If the head of state refuses to receive the oath or delays the process, the commission said it could be completed "without the President’s physical participation."

This would be permitted "provided that its essential elements are preserved": the oath is made in the prescribed form, its performance is duly verified, and it is "formally submitted to the President."

For appointments to other courts, it said candidates whose nominations are rejected should have "safeguards against arbitrariness," including access to judicial review.

The commission stated that protecting the Sejm’s power to elect the Tribunal's judges was essential to ensuring the court was properly composed and could function without disruption, describing this as "fundamental to the Rule of Law."

It noted that this was particularly significant in Poland, given the constitutional crisis surrounding the Tribunal that began in 2015.

Komisja Wenecka w najnowszej opinii potwierdza stanowisko prawników i Konstytucjonalistów. Prezydent nie ma żadnego prawa weta wobec sędziów Trybunału Konstytucyjnego wybranych przez Sejm. Złożenie ślubowania przed Głową Państwa wynika wyłącznie ze zwykłej ustawy i ma charakter ceremonialny a nie władczy. Konstytucja powierza wybór sędziów Sejmowi i nie daje Prezydentowi uprawnień do recenzowania decyzji parlamentu ani do badania kandydatów. Obowiązkiem Prezydenta jest natychmiastowe odebranie przysięgi bez zbędnej zwłoki. Próba paraliżowania sądu konstytucyjnego poprzez obstrukcję to naruszenie fundamentów ustrojowych Rzeczypospolitej. Komisja Wenecka jasno wskazuje: „w przypadku gdy Prezydent odmówi lub opóźni przeprowadzenie ceremonii zaprzysiężenia sędziego wybranego przez Sejm, uniemożliwiając w ten sposób zakończenie zwykłej procedury zaprzysiężenia, umożliwienie złożenia przysięgi bez fizycznego udziału Prezydenta, pod warunkiem zachowania jej istotnych elementów, w tym złożenia przysięgi w określonej formie, należytego zweryfikowania jej złożenia oraz skierowania jej do Prezydenta i przekazania mu” Co równie ważne, międzynarodowi eksperci stawiają tamę samowoli także przy wszystkich pozostałych powołaniach sędziowskich. Komisja wprost zaleca zagwarantowanie kandydatom ochrony przed arbitralnością oraz pełnego prawa do kontroli sądowej każdej odmowy.

— Waldemar Żurek (@w_zurek) October 13, 2026

Dispute over judges' oaths

The opinion comes amid an ongoing dispute between the president and the governing coalition over the judges’ oaths.

The Sejm (lower house) has elected eight judges to the Constitutional Tribunal during the current parliamentary term.

President Karol Nawrocki has yet to receive the oaths of four of the seven elected in March.

The four took their oaths at a ceremony in the Sejm on 9 April, addressing them to the head of state, but the presidential chancellery does not recognise this as valid.

Tribunal president Bogdan Święczkowski has not allowed the four to hear cases.

The eighth judge, Maciej Berek, elected in September, is also awaiting the president’s decision.

The dispute concerns his experience as a legal counsel.

Presidential spokesman Rafał Leśkiewicz said in September that Nawrocki would receive Berek’s oath once he "presents documents confirming that he meets the formal requirements."

Berek says he meets all the criteria set out in law.

The opinion was requested by the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

The Venice Commission, set up in 1990, assesses whether legal solutions meet standards of democracy, the rule of law and human rights.

Its opinions are not binding but often influence European institutions.

Since 2016 it has issued more than a dozen such assessments on Poland, covering the Constitutional Tribunal, the National Council of the Judiciary and the Supreme Court.

(ał)

Source: PAP, onet.pl, coe.int