In brief

• Former prime ministers Leszek Miller and Mateusz Morawiecki disagreed on whether the Constitutional Tribunal dispute is a coup, during a Polsat News debate.
• Miller rejected the coup label and criticised the takeover of the Tribunal by Anna Korwin-Piotrowska as lacking legal basis.
• Morawiecki called the situation a breach of the constitutional order, and Miller said a reset of the Tribunal is unlikely.

A dispute over who controls the Tribunal

The debate took place on Polsat News during the programme hosted by Bogdan Rymanowski. Its starting question was whether the actions of judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, the government and the police met the criteria of Article 128 of the Penal Code, which covers attacks on constitutional state bodies (Kryzys wokół Trybunału Konstytucyjnego. Miller i Morawiecki starli się w "Wieczorze Rymanowskiego" – PolsatNews.pl) (Spór podzielił Polskę, byli premierzy wprost o Trybunale Konstytucyjnym. Mają odmienne zdanie – Interia Wydarzenia).

Miller said he did not see the events as a coup. He described the current situation as an attempt to impose order on the Tribunal by force, and asked whether the rule of law can be built through force.

Morawiecki took a firmer line, calling the situation a clear violation of the constitutional order that Poland had not previously faced.

Miller's criticism of the takeover

He argued she had no legal basis for doing so and wrote that a state under the rule of law does not operate on the principle that whoever holds the police is right (Leszek Miller komentuje sytuację w Trybunale Konstytucyjnym. Krytykuje działania Anny Korwin-Piotrowskiej - ESKA.pl – eska.pl) (Leszek Miller zabrał głos w sprawie Trybunału! Jednoznaczna opinia - Super Express - wiadomości, polityka, sport – polityka.se.pl).

Miller also said the situation should not have arisen at all.

Limited prospects for a reset

Miller said a reset of the Tribunal was unlikely, because the Sejm lacks the majority needed to amend the Constitution.