Theme: Poland

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland called in a joint statement on the European Commission to terminate investment protection treaties with Russia that remain in force in 17 member states. According to Estonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the treaties are being used to influence European Union (EU) policy in Russia’s favor and their continued application threatens the bloc’s overall economic security. The ministry said the treaties contain provisions that encourage investment in Russia and allow individuals under sanctions to bring claims before international courts against member states and against the EU as a whole. Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said the EU’s task was to ensure “that Russia’s international isolation is maintained without concessions.”

The crisis at Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal came to a head on Friday, when Prime Minister Donald Tusk moved to remake the court, whose president was appointed by the previous government, the far-right Law and Justice (PiS) party. The tribunal’s president, Bogdan Święczkowski, was suspended after refusing to allow a new member nominated by Tusk and approved by Parliament to take his seat. President Karol Nawrocki described the removal as “a forcible takeover of a constitutional body,” abandoned a trip to Africa and headed straight back to the tribunal, in Warsaw. On Tuesday, the eight judges backed by Tusk’s coalition planned to meet to approve the tribunal’s budget and consider disciplinary proceedings against Święczkowski and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański. The parliamentary election is due next year, with the constitutional order and the direction of European integration at the center of the dispute.

At least seven flights and a cruise ship in Europe received bomb threats on Tuesday, causing disruption at airports, and no devices were discovered. Two flights to Warsaw, two to Sofia, two to Rome and one to Murcia airport in Spain were targeted; an airport in Warsaw was briefly shut and the Italian Air Force accompanied one of the flights to Rome. The UK government described the incidents as “malicious hoax threats,” and authorities from various countries will cooperate to assess whether this was a coordinated action designed to disrupt airspace. The Panama-flagged cruise ship Crown Iris, preparing to depart the Greek port of Syros for Haifa, was searched by a bomb disposal team and had 940 passengers and 597 crew members on board. According to Greek media, the captain received a warning directly by radio saying that an explosive device had been placed on the hull below the waterline; an initial search found no suspicious objects, and a second, more thorough inspection by the Coast Guard’s underwater missions unit was expected.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday that Poland prevented what appeared to be an attempted provocation on its border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad overnight. According to him, “individuals with flashlights” were seen in the area and the border guard told him, just after midnight, of “disturbing movement” on the Polish-Russian border; the guards prevented any incident. Police, the military, border guards and intelligence services reinforced security along the borders with Russia and Belarus, including near Kaliningrad, and counter-terrorism units were sent to the northeast after “more precise” information that acts of sabotage, including a possible incursion by “armed people,” were possible in the first half of November. Tusk said it was not possible to confirm with full certainty that the episode was an attempted provocation and that Russia’s escalation would continue, not limited to that incident. In the Warmian-Masurian region, Polish services intervened near Sępopol, where no one crossed into Polish territory and those observed withdrew into Kaliningrad, according to an RMF24 account carried by United24 Media.

Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal announced on October 30 the one-month suspension of its president, Bogdan Święczkowski, and its vice president, Bartłomiej Sochański, in an order signed by Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska. President Karol Nawrocki turned his Senegal-bound plane back to Warsaw and told the judges present that they “are not Constitutional Tribunal judges”. Święczkowski had been suspended after refusing to let a new member nominated by Donald Tusk and approved by parliament take his seat, an episode CNN describes as a chapter in the clash between the pro-European prime minister and the pro-Trump president. The prime minister said on October 31 that reform had been “blocked by the president and PiS” and that “on certain matters there can be no compromise”.

Four planes landed safely after bomb threats were made across Europe on Tuesday, among them two Warsaw-bound flights and a Scandinavian Airlines flight that departed from Copenhagen. Polish officials said they had received bomb threats involving two Warsaw-bound flights, but the planes landed safely and no explosives were found. A Ryanair plane from Manchester made an emergency landing at Murcia in southern Spain, with no explosives found; a fourth flight, from Israel, was forced to land in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Scandinavian Airlines plane landed at Warsaw’s Chopin Airport, where a security inspection did not turn up any explosive devices, and the airport closed a landing strip but was able to continue operating. The Times of Israel treated the incidents as hoax threats that forced the temporary closure of an airport.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday that Poland prevented what appeared to be an attempted provocation on its border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad overnight. Tusk gave few details but said that “individuals with flashlights” had been observed in the border area and that Polish guards prevented any incident from happening. According to the prime minister, additional police and other troops, including counterterrorism units, were directed to Poland’s northeastern border regions after authorities received “more precise” information that acts of sabotage, including a potential incursion by “armed people”, were possible in the first half of November. Members of Poland’s GROM special operations unit were deployed to the border with Kaliningrad to take part in a police operation aimed at preventing “planned acts of sabotage”, according to Russian state agency TASS; Tusk announced the deployment ahead of a cabinet meeting. Tusk said it was not possible to confirm with full certainty that the incident was an attempted provocation, and that Russia’s escalation would continue and was unlikely to be limited to that episode.

Warsaw Modlin Airport resumed operations on Tuesday after a Boeing 737 Max arriving from London landed at 10:01 and passengers disembarked, and two aircraft that arrived from London and Copenhagen were being inspected after separate bomb threats. A second flight, an SAS plane from Copenhagen also bound for Chopin Airport, received a bomb threat and landed as scheduled. The threats come a day after a Wizz Air flight from London Luton made an emergency landing in Budapest, escorted by a Hungarian fighter jet.

Warsaw-Modlin airport is closed until further notice on Tuesday after the unplanned landing of a plane from London due to information on an explosive device on board, the airport said in a statement. Security services were verifying the reported threat, it added.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk pledged on Saturday to ensure the country’s Constitutional Tribunal operate in accordance with the law, after President Karol Nawrocki accused the government of forcibly taking control of the court, in an escalating political dispute over the judiciary, according to CGTN.

Nearly 3,000 military personnel from 12 European nations are taking part this month in Poland in Exercise Koalicja, running November 9–22, 2026, according to the BBC, a rehearsal, led by the UK and France, of how to move, protect and supply a multinational force in Ukraine if there is a peace deal.

The so-called Coalition of the Willing holds on November 9, 2026 its first large-scale military exercise in Poland, in Nowa Deba in the southeast, with nearly 2,800 soldiers from 10 countries in the region bordering Ukraine. The Koalicja exercise runs until November 22. France and the United Kingdom are the main contributors, alongside Estonia, Lithuania, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Belgium. The alliance, led by France and the UK, has 36 nations and does not include the United States.

Poland's president, Karol Nawrocki, has held crisis talks with political leaders as a dispute over the independence of the country's top constitutional court deepens. Representatives of nationalist, far-right and some governing coalition parties attended the talks at the presidential palace on Saturday, while Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist Civic Coalition stayed away. Tusk has deployed riot police to get his judges seated at the court.

The political crisis between the centrist government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the opposition, which has smoldered since his return to power in 2023, moved up a notch on Friday, October 30, 2026, with the police intervention at the Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw, according to Le Monde. Anti-riot police were deployed in large numbers to block access to the tribunal, and the justice minister launched a procedure to lift the immunity of its president. On Saturday, the European Commission urged the head of state to confirm the appointment of the new judges.

The European Commission said it is for the Polish authorities to ensure that the Constitutional Tribunal can function in accordance with the Polish constitution and with the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The Commission said the appointment of eight new members of the Constitutional Tribunal lies within the constitutional power of the Sejm, Poland’s parliament, and cited interim measures from the European Court of Human Rights dated May 5, 2026. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said restoring calm could not mean accepting lawlessness or violence, and vowed to restore conditions for independent justice and the rule of law.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki met on Saturday at the presidential palace with representatives of nationalist, far-right and some governing coalition parties, amid the standoff over the Constitutional Tribunal; Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist Civic Coalition stayed away, according to Al Jazeera. In a Saturday evening speech, Tusk accused conservative nationalist opposition leaders of wanting to “destroy democracy and rule of law.” In a televised address, he said he was certain the Constitutional Tribunal “will function as it should,” independently of him and in line with the constitution, according to Reuters.

Riot police were deployed outside Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal as the dispute over who should serve on the court escalated into a confrontation between Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government and the nationalist opposition, according to Al Jazeera. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the building in Warsaw on Friday night after judges elected by the current parliamentary majority announced the suspension of the tribunal’s president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, and his deputy, Bartlomiej Sochanski. Police secured the Constitutional Tribunal as protests erupted over the court chief’s suspension, according to AP News.

Riot police have been deployed at Poland’s Constitutional Court amid an escalating standoff between the government and the court’s top judges, the BBC reported. On Friday, police surrounded the tribunal and detained three people after some protesters breached the fence and others threw objects at officers, the Associated Press (AP) reported. The court’s website published the suspension of its president, Bogdan Święczkowski, at around 6 p.m. local time and went down soon after, and AP said it could not independently verify the official reasons for the move. President Karol Nawrocki, who was flying to Senegal, said he turned his flight back: “At a moment like this, the President must be in Poland. I am cutting short my flight to Senegal. I am returning,” he wrote on X. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that “restoring the rule of law is our obligation.”

Polish President Karol Nawrocki convened emergency consultations with representatives of parliamentary groups over the conflict surrounding the Constitutional Court, according to the TASS news agency. The head of the presidential office read out a statement in which Nawrocki justified the move by a threat to the country’s internal security and said the consultations aim to stabilize the political situation and restore constitutional order.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki entered the building of the Constitutional Tribunal early on Saturday, accompanied by Zbigniew Kapinski, according to Nawrocki’s chief of staff, Pawel Szefernaker. Police said they had arrested three people who tried to enter the court complex.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on Friday called for a rapid ceasefire in the Black Sea that would allow safe passage for grain shipments from both Ukraine and Russia. “I spoke in favor of doing something quickly because the people of the Global South need this grain,” he told reporters during a two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of 20 (G20) major economies in Atlanta.

Poland's president, Karol Nawrocki, cut short a trip to Senegal and returned to Warsaw after the Constitutional Tribunal said on its website that the tribunal's president had been suspended, and joined protesters facing off with police outside the court. The tribunal said its longest-serving judge, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, suspended the tribunal's president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, and assumed charge of the court, according to the Hindustan Times.

Polish police entered the premises of the Constitutional Tribunal on Friday after demonstrators gathered in Warsaw to protest the suspension of its head judge, Bogdan Swieczkowski. Police said there were incidents outside the court, with objects thrown at officers, and that three people were detained. Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek requested that the immunity of Swieczkowski and his deputy be lifted for preventing judges elected by the parliamentary majority from taking up their duties. Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X that restoring the rule of law is the government’s duty.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki cut short his flight to Senegal on Friday and announced he was returning to the country after police entered the premises of the Constitutional Tribunal and its president was suspended, according to TRT World. Police said officers entered the tribunal’s premises following incidents outside the court, including the throwing of dangerous objects at police. The tribunal announced on its website that its president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, had been suspended on Friday. The dispute over the Constitutional Tribunal has dragged on and effectively paralyzed the institution: earlier this year, Nawrocki, an ally of the former nationalist government, refused to swear in three of the six judges nominated by parliament.

Thousands of people protested in more than 20 towns and cities across Poland, calling for access to free and legal abortion services, according to Al Jazeera. The demonstrations come days after parliament passed two bills easing abortion restrictions that are likely to be vetoed by conservative President Karol Nawrocki, also according to Al Jazeera.

Lviv’s regional council decided on Tuesday to organize “cultural, memorial, scientific, and mass media events”, exhibitions and national-patriotic rallies to mark the 120th anniversary of Roman Shukhevych’s birth and 85 years since the creation of the militant group that, according to RT, perpetrated mass killings of ethnic Poles, Jews and Russians. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk branded the move a “suicidal tactic” on Ukraine’s part, Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz called it “unacceptable”, and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski called for the resolution’s key sponsor, Lviv regional lawmaker Svyatoslav Sheremet, to be placed on Poland’s travel ban list, according to RT.

The international airport in Rzeszow, Poland, near the border with Ukraine, was closed to arriving and departing flights at the military’s request, a source in the air traffic control service of the Warsaw Flight Information Region told TASS. The source said the closure was “due to unscheduled military aviation operations aimed at ensuring the country’s security”, and gave no further details.

Poland says two Turkish citizens were arrested in Germany on suspicion of setting fire to a Starlink station in Poland. According to DW, the two Turks were detained by German police at the request of Polish services, and Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the fire an act of “hybrid warfare.” Special Services Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said Poland had “absolutely no doubt” that Russian services were behind the fire last month at the station in Wola Krobowska, and the pair await transfer to Poland under a European Arrest Warrant.

Poland detained on Sunday a man accused of plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, after an emergency meeting of the security services about a potential attack against both men, according to DW, with Tusk confirming the detention and praising the police’s “swift and decisive action”. Le Monde blames the far right for the attempt in the headline of its October 12 story.

Poland's police said on Sunday they had received information about a possible plot to attack Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, according to the Associated Press. Security services, police and representatives of the Interior Ministry had an emergency meeting scheduled to start at 11 a.m. (0900 GMT) on Sunday.

Sweden will deploy Patriot missile defence systems to eastern Poland to help protect the NATO logistics hub that supplies weapons to Ukraine, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

Poland could pay up to 17 billion zloty ($4.4 billion) for a permanent US military base on its territory, according to the presidential National Security Bureau (BBN), as reported by RT. The talks under way with Washington involve a facility that could house 5,000 troops. The figure of up to 17 billion zloty and a possible opening as early as 2029 were reported by newspaper Rzeczpospolita, according to Bloomberg, in text republished by Yahoo Finance.

Poland stopped registering asylum applications on the border with Belarus in March 2025 and has kept the measure in place for 18 months, the Associated Press reports. Warsaw wants the European Union (EU) to authorize temporary suspensions of asylum applications in cases of “instrumentalized” migration, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on September 16 a proposal for a European framework to respond to “planned and weaponized” migration, the Associated Press adds.