What Happens to Maciej Berek’s Oath? “We Have to Wait Until Mid-September”

Maciej Berek is waiting to learn whether President Karol Nawrocki will invite him to take the oath as a Constitutional Tribunal judge. After meeting Sejm Speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty on Monday, Berek said there had been no contact from the president’s office.

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The vote was on Friday. It is Monday morning, so I think we still have a little time.

“The vote was on Friday. It is Monday morning, so I think we still have a little time,” Berek told reporters. He said questions about an invitation should be directed to the Presidential Chancellery. Asked what he would do if he was not invited to the Presidential Palace, he replied that he “deeply believes that we will act in accordance with the law and with what the regulations prescribe.”

Berek said he would not be drawn into discussing what might happen if the president failed to carry out an obligation. “I am waiting for September 15 and 16, and we will see what happens then and what the president will do in this matter,” he said. He added that his case should follow the same course as that of four judges elected in March, stressing that Constitutional Tribunal judges “are elected by the Sejm.”

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I deeply believe that we will act in accordance with the law and with what the regulations prescribe.

Berek became the eighth person elected by the current Sejm to serve on the tribunal. Of the seven elected before him, Nawrocki has not received the oaths of four. Representatives of the Presidential Chancellery say errors occurred in the Sejm, while the four judges took oaths at a Sejm ceremony using a formula stating that they did so “before the president.” The chancellery does not recognize this as a valid oath, and Tribunal President Bogdan Święczkowski has not allowed the four judges to hear cases.

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I am waiting for September 15 and 16, and we will see what happens then and what the president will do in this matter.

The appointment has also drawn objections over Berek’s qualifications. Before Friday’s vote, Presidential Chancellery head Zbigniew Bogucki said there were “far-reaching doubts” about whether Berek had actually practised as a legal adviser for 10 years. Some lawmakers also questioned whether he met the required period of legal practice and a statutory waiting period between serving as a Constitutional Tribunal judge and holding government office.

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Are elected by the Sejm.