President Andrzej Duda on Saturday signed into force a new law on the Constitutional Tribunal, the Presidential Office said. The intention of the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party, which prepared the draft bill, is for the law to be a response to the constitutional crisis, which has surrounded the Tribunal for many months.

However, the opposition has claimed that the bill violates legislative procedures, and that some of its provisions are unconstitutional and do not take into account the recommendations of the Venice Commission.

The European Commission recently urged Poland to respect rulings by the country’s Constitutional Tribunal, issuing a set of recommendations and giving Warsaw three months to comply.

Poland has been locked in a political stalemate after Law and Justice, which came to power in October, introduced sweeping reforms to the Constitutional Tribunal and other institutions, prompting anti-government protests and criticism from abroad.