Updated

Donald Tusk, the president of the European Union and the former Polish prime minister, has urged authorities in his homeland to resolve a constitutional crisis that is raising concerns about the rule of law.

Tusk on Thursday urged Poland's government to respect the ruling of the Venice Commission, an international human rights body that reprimanded Warsaw last week for moves that have paralyzed Poland's Constitutional Tribunal.

The ruling Law and Justice party has passed new laws that have essentially prevented the court from acting as a check on government power. The court itself struck down the laws as unconstitutional last week.

But ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczysnki said Thursday the government would not publish the court's ruling, a necessary step for it to become law.