President Duda ratifies budget bill but sends it to Constitutional Tribunal

The president's office informed that President Duda signed the budget bill for 2024 into law and that he also decided to send it to the Constitutional Tribual for further consideration.

According to the statement published at the president's website, Duda argued that the parliament could have violated the constitution when passing the budget bill and a number of other draft legislation by not allowing "MPs Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik" to take part in the vote.

Kamiński and Wąsik, both former ministers in the previous PiS-led government, were sentenced to prison in December for abuse of power back in 2007. The two politicians were then placed in prison in January, only to be released shortly after when President Duda decided to pardon them.

According to the government and Sejm authorities, with speaker Szymon Hołownia at the helm, Kamiński and Wąsik are no longer MPs as their parliamentary mandates have been terminated.

The opposition, with Jarosław Kaczyński's PiS party as main force, and the president claim that the two pardoned politicians are still MPs and should be allowed to take part in the parliamentary work.

"Analogous actions will be taken by the Polish President each time MPs are prevented from exercising their mandates, originating from the general election," the president's office added.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted his comment on the issue on the X social media platform: "The budget is approved and that was the goal. The rest doesn't matter."

"People will get the money, nothing will stop it now," the prime minister added.