Signal No. 179 · Poland's constitutional court chief removed; president flies home

Police went onto the premises of Poland's Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw on Friday evening; a notice on its website, signed by Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, elected to the Tribunal by the Sejm in March, ordered an immediate break in the official duties of its president, Bogdan Święczkowski, and its vice-president, Bartłomiej Sochański. The Tribunal rules on whether Poland's laws conform to the constitution; a long-running dispute over who sits on it has left it effectively paralysed, according to Reuters.

Korwin-Piotrowska told TVP Info she signed as the person now directing the Tribunal: under the 2016 Act on its procedure, when the president cannot authorise anyone to direct the court, the judge with the longest judicial service stands in, and she is that judge. In that capacity she cites Article 130 of the Law on the System of Common Courts, under which a court president or the justice minister may remove a judge from duties for up to a month, until a disciplinary court rules, where the judge was detained after being caught committing an intentional offence, or the nature of the act means the dignity of the court or essential interests of the service require immediate removal. Święczkowski has not let her or the other judges elected by the current parliament take up their duties.

Waldemar Żurek, the justice minister and prosecutor general, sent the court five motions on Friday, 224 pages in all, with 50 volumes of files. Four seek consent to bring criminal charges against Święczkowski; Żurek said one strand of the case concerns suspected abuse of power and failure to perform his duties in not admitting judges to work. The fifth seeks to lift Sochański's immunity. The Tribunal's General Assembly voted unanimously in October 2025 against lifting Święczkowski's immunity; the National Prosecutor's Office said in December 2025 that the resolution had produced no legal effect. Żurek said he filed the motions "when I knew there was a person at the Tribunal not covered by" them.

Police say they acted on letters from Żurek about protests nearby and from Korwin-Piotrowska about threats to judges and staff. They say officers on the grounds were called there by an authorised person, that dangerous objects were thrown at officers in the street, and that police are not inside the building. On 23 September Żurek had said he could not rule out restoring the law at the Tribunal "with the help of the state services responsible" for keeping order; Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, the defence minister, said on 24 September there was "no talk of forceful experiments".

The Tribunal's X account reports an "unlawful takeover" of its website, says Święczkowski remains president and Korwin-Piotrowska is not a judge of the court, and says everyone taking part "is committing the crime of a coup d'état". Sochański told Rzeczpospolita: "A coup d'état is happening." Jarosław Kaczyński, the PiS leader, called it an attack on the Tribunal. Donald Tusk wrote on X that after "years of PiS lawlessness" this is "a difficult, sometimes painful process that requires decisive action. There is no other way." On 18 December 2025 the EU Court of Justice held that the Tribunal is not an independent and impartial tribunal established by law, because of serious irregularities in the appointment of three of its judges and of its then president. Marcin Matczak, a constitutional lawyer who calls Święczkowski the worst person for the job, said there is "no legal basis" to order a break in his duties.

President Karol Nawrocki said at 18:12 that he was turning back from a trip to Senegal: "At a moment like this, the President must be in Poland." Święczkowski says he will meet him on his return. Shortly before 21:00, after the lock on a side gate was cut, Święczkowski got onto the grounds but was not let into the building and went back to the protesters. None of the reports mentions the armed forces or the Military Police. A General Assembly called for 3 November by judges elected by the current Sejm is to adopt the court's budget, Polish media report; Żurek said the court still has no budget for next year.

Pentagon officials have in recent weeks urged several NATO allies, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia among them, to tone down their public statements about the Russian threat, arguing that some statements by European leaders and officials, including in the Baltics, have undermined the continent's security, Reuters reported on Friday, citing four sources. Among those who conveyed the message was Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon's under secretary for policy, who the same sources say plays a central role in the US review of forces in Europe; by one account he told a Baltic official that Russia should not be provoked, and cited European comparisons of Russia to a cornered rat. Reuters said it was unclear which statement he meant; LRT notes that Kristen Michal, Estonia's prime minister, called Vladimir Putin a "rat in a corner" in late September. Another source said an Estonian delegation had been urged to exercise restraint in public.

A European official described the message: "We are helping you. The Americans are there. Just don't be loud. Don't make noise." The appeals come, the report notes, as the administration renews its efforts to end Russia's war against Ukraine through negotiations. The Pentagon declined to comment on "private conversations among allies"; the three countries' defence ministries did not respond to Reuters.

Michal told Delfi that nothing of the kind had been said to him directly by the US, and that it had not come up when he last met Donald Trump, in Ankara in the summer. "I will not hold back. Putin is a dictator who kills women and children." Margus Tsahkna, the foreign minister, told ERR that the US "has not made any official proposal to us that we should in any way change our foreign policy or our communication". He added that "we do not currently see Russia preparing for large-scale aggression against NATO", but "we see Russia increasingly organizing terrorist attacks and acts of sabotage against Europe", which Estonia publicly attributes. "Rather, Russia is provoking us." Estonia's defence ministry said no such request had reached it "through official channels". In Vilnius, Robertas Kaunas, the defence minister, said he had no information about such a request, and President Gitanas Nausėda's office said he and his advisers had received none.

The CONTSHIP JET, struck by three uncrewed surface drones about 21 nautical miles south-east of Shabla at midday on Wednesday, sank during the night, Bulgarian radio reported on Thursday. All 18 crew (14 Filipino, four Ukrainian) were brought to Varna unhurt. Of 421 containers, 20 went overboard and were drifting, said Rear Admiral Kiril Mihaylov, the commander of Bulgaria's navy; according to the captain, the cargo included fuel and other hazardous goods. It was the fifth ship hit in Bulgaria's economic zone, by Bulgarian radio's count.

Admiral Emil Eftimov, the outgoing chief of defence, said: "We are not at war. The drones did not enter our territorial waters, so we could not take action against them." He added that aircraft were on standby and drones deployed, but severe weather hampered them. Mihaylov cited a different constraint: "We had no forces or assets in the immediate area that could reach them quickly enough to intercept and destroy them." The two also differ on where the drones came from: Eftimov says the drones came from the east, Mihaylov that they could have been launched from anywhere.

The Ministry of Defence and the Treasury published the UK Offset Policy on Friday. Overseas suppliers winning defence contracts of GBP 50 million or more will be considered for offset and, where it applies, will sign a separate Offset Agreement with a new Offset Authority inside the ministry. The default obligation is 100 per cent of the contract value, and it rises if the contract price grows; the Authority may set less. Suppliers meet it through work placed with UK firms, technology transfer, investment, research, skills, exports or maintenance capability, with multipliers for priority sectors that "may be applied cumulatively". Agreements can run for ten years. The release announcing it says the policy applies to "a select number of procurements from April 2027" and that overseas firms will "be required" to deliver benefits that "could reach the same value as the contract"; the policy text itself leaves offset to the Authority, contract by contract.

Existing business normally earns no credit: pre-existing or routine activity counts only if the supplier shows "a material increase" in value, scope, technology, market access or UK benefit "directly attributable to the offset requirement". Among other tests, a company with a "substantial and enduring UK footprint" counts as UK-based; guidance on that definition is to follow. The policy "shall not normally apply" where workshare or industrial outcomes are already governed by a treaty, memorandum of understanding, collaborative programme framework "or other government-to-government arrangement"; the ministry may also exempt urgent operational requirements, and suppliers cannot ask for an exemption. The text does not mention US Foreign Military Sales. The Authority will also advise on "reciprocal arrangements to reduce or remove offset requirements imposed by foreign governments on UK suppliers".