Tusk on the Council of the New Constitution: I will not pretend that this is a serious initiative

Prime Minister Donald Tusk – referring to the New Constitution Council established by the president – said that he “will not pretend that this is a serious initiative.” He also stressed that he was ready to participate in a serious conversation about the constitution “even in person.”

Before returning to Warsaw from the summit of the European Political Community in Yerevan, Tusk, in a conversation with journalists, was asked about the New Constitution Council established this Sunday by Karol Nawrocki, which – according to the president – is to develop a draft of a new constitution.

The head of government stated that President Nawrocki “does not seem to him to be a politician who really cares about the constitutional order, but rather about changing the system so that he has more to say.”

– It seems to me that more or less the system we have at the moment serves Polish affairs well. I am also not going to work on a new constitution with President Nawrocki, said Prime Minister Tusk.

He added that he “will not pretend that this is a serious initiative.” – I am ready to participate in a serious conversation about the constitution, even in person (…). If someone wants to believe that this is a serious initiative, that's up to them. If you want to comment on it seriously, that's your business, that's media law, I have no problem with it, he told the journalists. – I will not pretend that this is a serious initiative – he added.

He also referred to one person appointed to the Council – former president of the Constitutional Tribunal Julia Przyłębska – saying that he would not discuss the constitutional order with her because he would feel “quite grotesque”.

He also assessed that the current constitution “clearly defines” who rules and is responsible for decisions in Poland and it is “of course the government.” In turn, the president's tasks and role are – in his opinion – “quite precisely” described in the constitution.

He also assessed that “there is no constitution that is one hundred percent precise when it comes to the competences of various institutions and authorities.” The Prime Minister noted that next year it will be 30 years since the current constitution was adopted and Poland “was doing well.” In this context, he concluded that “with a bit of good will” and “an honest reading of this constitution, good relations can be established without much effort – primarily between the government and the president.”

– But if someone has bad will and wants to sometimes violate this constitution, sometimes bypass it, sometimes reinterpret it, of course they will always find such an opportunity, but with bad consequences – said Tusk. He added that even “the worst regimes had beautifully written constitutions, but it is really about the practice of action.”

The acts of appointment to the Council of the New Constitution were received by its first members. These include: former president of the Constitutional Tribunal Julia Przyłębska, constitutionalist Ryszard Piotrowski, judge and former Minister of Justice Barbara Piwnik, lawyer, former Marshal of the Sejm Józef Zych, former Marshal of the Sejm Marek Jurek, prof. Ryszard Legutko, constitutionalist prof. Anna Łabno.

As the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland announced in a statement, the following were also appointed to the Council: lawyer, activist of the democratic opposition in the Polish People's Republic, Piotr Andrzejewski; sociologist, former PiS MEP prof. Zdzisław Krasnodębski; Jacek Majchrowski.

During Sunday's speech at Castle Square, the president said, among other things, that the next stage of work will be the appointment of further experts, constitutionalists, lawyers, but also experts in many social fields. He said that, on the other hand, he had already sent invitations to representatives of all political forces in the Sejm and believed that “all those who care about the future of the Republic of Poland (…), all representatives of the Polish Sejm, will sit in the Presidential Palace” to work on the new constitution. (PAP)

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