The real winner in Poland’s constitutional battle is Putin

What the report says

Al Jazeera’s opinion piece says Poland’s ruling camps are locked in a widening struggle over the Constitutional Tribunal, with the confrontation now centered on whether recently appointed judges can take office. According to the article, President Karol Nawrocki and Tribunal leaders aligned with Law and Justice have blocked the appointments, while Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government has moved to install new judges and temporarily suspend the court’s president and deputy. Police were deployed to the tribunal building during the standoff in Warsaw, underscoring how politically charged the dispute has become.

The author argues that both major blocs are damaging confidence in state institutions by claiming to defend the rule of law while also using tactics that opponents view as unlawful or coercive. The piece traces the dispute back to earlier clashes over judicial appointments in 2015 and says the current round is deepening public distrust rather than resolving it. It also notes that Russian figures have used the conflict to question Poland’s institutional legitimacy; former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev called the intervention a coup.

More broadly, the article frames the crisis in the context of Russia’s war in Ukraine and broader information warfare in Central and Eastern Europe. It warns that continued institutional brinkmanship could weaken the bond between citizens and the state and, in a worst-case scenario, spill over into electoral legitimacy debates. The author concludes that this polarization serves Russia’s interests more than Poland’s.