Donald Tusk will take over as Poland’s prime minister this week, nearly two months after parliamentary elections brought a majority to an alliance of opposition parties. His rise to power will end eight years of rule by the populist Law and Justice (PiS) party, The Guardian reports.
The Tusk-led alliance won a clear majority of seats in the 15 October vote, but President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, gave incumbent Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki the first chance to form a government in what many saw as a delaying tactic.
Morawiecki is due to present a new government to the Sejm, Poland’s lower house of parliament, on Monday, after which he will face a vote of confidence. That is not expected to be successful. The Sejm will then propose its candidate, who is expected to be Tusk, who will present his government on Tuesday. After intense negotiations between potential coalition partners, a cabinet has already been agreed.
Parliament will vote in favour of Tusk’s government on Tuesday and he could take office as early as Wednesday, allowing him to attend a summit of EU leaders scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
It will be a bright return to power for Tusk, who served as prime minister from 2007 to 2014. He then left domestic politics to become president of the European Council. However, Tusk faces many challenges ahead. His coalition will be broad and potentially unwieldy, he will have to manage a difficult economic situation and pass a budget before the end of the year. Tusk said on Friday:
There is still no draft budget; it has been neglected by Morawiecki and we will have to make up for it. It will include 30% pay rises for teachers.
Since winning elections in 2015, PiS has embarked on a programme that combined generous social spending with populist policies against migrants and LGBTQ+ people. The government has clashed with Brussels over the rule of law, leading to the freezing of billions of euros earmarked for Poland. Tusk said:
We are working with the future minister of justice and the legal community on a package of changes to restore the rule of law in Poland. We will act firmly, but in compliance with the rule of law.
PiS will remain the largest party in parliament, with 194 out of 460 seats in the lower house. Duda, who has veto power over parliamentary decisions, is also likely to be a brake on any ambitious legislative programme with progressive intentions, meaning that the new government may have to wait until the presidential election expected in 2025 before it has serious legislative options.
Duda made it clear that he was not going to go along with the new administration when he made the decision to nominate Morawiecki to form the government first, despite the fact that all other parties have made clear statements that they will not work with PiS and there is no path to a PiS-led majority. On Friday, Tusk accused PiS of using their last few weeks in power to “sow chaos by destroying the Polish state”.
PiS has also left a legal minefield for the new government in various supposedly neutral state institutions that have undergone a creeping takeover by PiS supporters over the past eight years, including state media and the judiciary.
