The latest recommendation came from the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe's advisory body on constitutional law, which ruled in an opinion published on October 13 that President Karol Nawrocki had no authority to question parliament's selection of Constitutional Tribunal judges.
The commission said the president must receive their oaths of office without delay.
It also said that judges could take their oaths without the president's physical presence if he refused to cooperate, provided the required formalities were observed.
The opinion followed Nawrocki's decision to administer the oath to just two of six Constitutional Tribunal judges elected by parliament in March.
The remaining four took their oaths before parliamentary officials, but Tribunal head Bogdan Święczkowski refused to allow them to hear cases.
The European Court of Human Rights in May ordered Polish authorities to stop obstructing the four judges while it considered their case.
The president's office challenged the Strasbourg court's authority to intervene.
In June, the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers called on Poland to ensure that the Tribunal was lawfully constituted and clarify the status of rulings involving judges improperly appointed in 2015.
The committee expressed concern over Nawrocki's treatment of the newly elected judges.
It also criticized the continued participation of two judges whose appointments were legally defective.
The Constitutional Tribunal examines whether Polish legislation complies with the constitution.
Its crisis began in 2015, when the outgoing parliament, controlled by a coalition government of the centrist Civic Platform (PO), now renamed Civic Coalition (KO), and the rural-based Polish People's Party (PSL), elected five judges.
Two of them were chosen for seats that would become vacant only after parliamentary elections.
The incoming parliament, controlled by the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, annulled all five appointments and selected replacements.
Three of its nominees took seats that had already been lawfully filled.
In December 2025, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that Poland's Constitutional Tribunal had violated European Union law by rejecting the authority of European court judgments in two decisions issued in 2021.
The European Union's highest court also found that irregularities in the 2015 judicial appointments and the selection of former Tribunal head Julia Przyłębska in 2016 meant that the institution failed to meet the requirements of an independent and impartial court.
It ruled that EU member states could not invoke their national constitutions to avoid obligations under EU law.
The Venice Commission had previously addressed proposals to reform the Tribunal.
In December 2024, it warned that dismissing all sitting judges would violate European standards protecting judicial tenure.
However, it accepted that judges appointed to already occupied seats could be removed.
The commission also recommended publishing Tribunal judgments issued by improperly constituted panels, with explanatory notices where necessary to clarify their legal status.
(rt/gs)
Source: PAP