Polish top court upholds withholding of state subsidies from PiS over campaign finance irregularities

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland’s top administrative court has upheld a decision by the finance ministry to withhold state subsidies from the national-conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party due to campaign finance irregularities.

The decision was welcomed by the government, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying that there will be “no money for grifters”. PiS, however, argues that the money is being withheld for political reasons and accuses the authorities of “Russian standards”.

Naczelny Sąd Administracyjny oddalił w środę kasacje ws. dotacji i subwencji dla PiS. – Miażdżący dla PiS wyrok podtrzymany! – stwierdził szef MF Andrzej Domański https://t.co/bcL18WbiYf

— OKO.press (@oko_press) August 6, 2026

The dispute dates back to August 2024, when the National Electoral Commission (PKW) rejected PiS’s financial report for the previous year’s parliamentary election campaign after identifying around 3.6 million zloty (€838,000) in unauthorised expenditure.

As a result, the PKW ordered that PiS should lose 10.8 million zloty from the state subsidies that political parties in Poland receive based on their level of electoral support. The party would normally have received 25.9 million zloty based on its 2023 election result.

The decision triggered months of legal wrangling, with PiS arguing that the funding should be restored after the Supreme Court upheld its complaint against the PKW’s decision. However, finance minister Andrzej Domański refused to release the money, saying there were unresolved legal doubts over the ruling.

The finance minister has refused to comply with the electoral commission's decision to pay out subsidies to the opposition PiS party

He says there are "legal doubts" over the issue. But PiS says he is obliged to pay and will be held criminally responsible https://t.co/ZwIZRqn5tp

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) January 9, 2025

Those doubts stem from a broader dispute over the controversial and contested judicial reforms implemented by PiS when it ruled Poland from 2015 to 2023.

The chamber of the Supreme Court that ruled in PiS’s favour was created as part of those reforms. It has previously been found to not be a legitimate body by both the European Court of Justice and European Court of Human Rights because it contains improperly appointed judges.

After the Supreme Court chamber’s ruling, the PKW initially said it would not recognise the decision until the chamber’s legal status was clarified. Two weeks later, however, it reversed that decision and approved PiS’s financial report.

Domański still declined to restore the subsidy, arguing that the PKW’s resolution was internally contradictory. While it approved the payments, it also stated that the chamber’s ruling should come from a body recognised as a court and that it was not determining whether the chamber met that standard.

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PiS challenged Domański’s decision. However, its case was initially rejected by a lower court in June last year, and that decision has now been upheld by the Supreme Administrative Court (NSA), which is the final court of appeal for administrative issues.

The NSA found the minister had acted lawfully in withholding the funding. It also said the Supreme Court chamber’s ruling had no legal effect because it had been issued by a body that was not a properly constituted court, reports news website OKO.press.

The ruling was welcomed by Domański, who called it a “crushing blow to PiS” and said that “yet another PiS lie has been exposed”. Prime Minister Donald Tusk, meanwhile, wrote on social media: “Just as we said, there is and will be no money for grifters.”

Tak jak mówiliśmy, dla przekręciarzy pieniędzy nie ma i nie będzie. https://t.co/4Kqexj6NoC

— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) August 5, 2026

The PKW’s decision to cut PiS’s funds was made after it found that government resources – including from the justice ministry, Government Legislation Centre (RCL) and Research and Academic Computer Network (NASK) – had been used to support the party’s election campaign.

However, PiS has always argued that the decision was a political one, implemented at the behest of the new Tusk government in order to undermine the main opposition party.

Radosław Fogiel, a senior PiS lawmaker and former party spokesman, said that the new NSA ruling “does not change the essence of the matter: it unlawfully deprives the main opposition party of the subsidy to which it is entitled. Russian standards.”

Chłopie, powstrzymaj emocje! Ekscytacja jak u nastolatka przed pierwszą randką.

A czego dotyczy ów "miażdżący wyrok"? Skargi na bezczynność Ministra Finansów. To, że przybyli mu w sukurs kwestionują decyzję Sądu Najwyższego, nie zmienia istoty rzeczy: nielegalnie pozbawia główną… https://t.co/NONA2tOoxf

— Radosław Fogiel (@radekfogiel) August 5, 2026

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: KPRM (under CC BY 3.0 PL )