Democratic Security
Interview
Is Hungary a Spin Democracy? – CONVERSATION
2 September 2026
On 28 August 2026 Poland’s Council of Ministers adopted a draft budget in which the Constitutional Tribunal appears nowhere. The omission is not a mistake but a strategic gambit by Donald Tusk ahead of an important vote this Friday.
On Friday 4 September the Sejm votes on Maciej Berek’s candidacy as a judge in the Constitutional Tribunal. Until three weeks earlier Berek was a minister for government policy implementation in Donald Tusk’s cabinet. Now his career plans have become a vehicle for the prime minister’s ambition to deal another blow to President Karol Nawrocki.
For Tusk’s cabinet the Tribunal is an obstacle. For Nawrocki, however, it has been a valuable instrument. His veto is a single visible act with a political price attached each time. A Tribunal, composed largely of judges elected under the Law and Justice (PiS) government, can invalidate a reform after passage, at a time of its own choosing, permanently, without the presidential palace appearing to act.
Berek’s election would remove that. Eight of fifteen judges elected by the current majority is a working majority, and a working majority can change how the institution operates, including its presidency. As a result, Nawrocki would be left with vetoes alone.
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