BERLIN Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS in Polish) clings to power, even though it has been a so-called lame duck since the October elections. The other big parties do not agree to cooperate with it.
PiS lost the majority of parliamentary seats in the elections. It is still the largest single party.
It was already known in advance that the president Andrzej Dudawho also represents the PiS party, gives the task of government negotiator to the former prime minister To Matteusz Morawiecki. The president officially justified his decision by saying that the tradition is to let the largest party try first.
On Monday, Duda accepted the oath of office of Morawiecki’s government, even though he knows that the government has no room for action. It is a minority government that cannot promote practically anything.
Morawiecki’s government will fall no later than December 11, when the parliament will vote on its confidence. Polish private media has described the government as a “two-week cabinet”.
The PiS party is threatened by investigations into misuse of public funds. Suspicions of abuse may be one explanation for why Duda and Morawiecki are playing time.
– They need time to clean up, dispose of files – and look for new jobs. In addition, they can still try to influence the courts, Heinrich Böll Foundation Warsaw director Joanna Stolarek explained the outcome of the October elections in Berlin.
The ruling party has continued to appoint its representatives to various positions in the Polish administration since the election, even though it knows it has no partners and no chance to continue.
Tusk: No need to delay
The opposition hopes that its candidate for prime minister Donald Tusk will be elected as a board member in December. Thus, the new government formed by the opposition would come to power in the second half of December.
The hardly liberal-conservative Citizens’ Forum got the second most votes in the elections after PiS. Citizens’ Forum and two other opposition parties, namely the centrist Kolmas tie and the left-wing Lewica, already negotiated a joint government program a few weeks ago. Likewise, the list of ministers is already ready.
They have a solid majority in the parliament, i.e. 248 MPs out of a total of 460.
Donald Tusk has said that he will eventually become prime minister, and President Duda can’t do anything about it.
Tusk is a former president of the European Council. His rise to power would mean a huge change for Poland. The current administration has been at odds with Brussels since 2015. Relations with Ukraine would also probably improve.
Under normal circumstances, Tusk and the other opposition parties would not even try to form a joint government, because the left, the center and the liberal conservatives have little in common. Now they are driven by opposition to the Law and Justice party.
Even on the streets of Warsaw, there is a strong desire among the citizens that democracy would return to Poland. The opposition parties want to respond to this cry.
Tusk has called the delay of the Law and Justice party a farce. He has tried to appeal to Duda to appoint a functioning government as soon as possible, so that, among other things, the EU’s frozen recovery fund subsidies to Poland can be paid.
He has already used his Brussels connections behind the scenes to speed up subsidies. Financial news channel According to Bloomberg Poland could receive the first installments as early as December.
Eight years of authoritarianism
The Law and Justice party has ruled with a monopoly for eight years. It has forced the judiciary and state-owned radio and television channels to become the government’s cash registers.
The opposition is united by the fact that it has a strong will to reverse Poland’s current line. The main goals of its government program are the “depoliticization” of the courts, security services, public media and state-owned companies.
The government formed by the opposition parties would introduce clear conditions for the hiring of the administration’s managers and supervisors, while they have been appointed based on the favoritism system until now. The purpose would also be to report on the use of public funds more openly than at present.
One of the issues that has torn Poland apart in recent years has been the ban on abortion, which is one of the strictest in the world. Tusk plans to make it easier to get an abortion. The final result has not been announced in the church, because the centrist Kolmas tie, one of the opposition parties, supports strict abortion legislation.
In addition, discrimination against gender minorities is to be stopped. According to the cooperation agreement of the opposition parties, the church and religion will be separated, and the teaching of religion in schools will be reduced.
Citizens also expect that abuses of office by the current authorities will be investigated.
However, reform is complicated, among other things, because President Duda, who will rule for another two years, has relatively extensive veto rights. He can try to prevent legal reforms.