Right-wing national PiS lacks majority, but delays takeover: bizarre insurgent government takes power in Poland

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How absurd is that? A new government was sworn in in Poland on Monday, and it is known for certain that it will be dissolved at the next parliamentary session on December 11.

The background: After the elections on October 15, President Andrzej Duda (51) gave the largest party, Law and Justice (PiS), the largest party with 35.4 percent of the vote, the task of forming a government. But it was already clear that the national conservative party would not be able to find a partner for a majority government and would never prevail in parliament over the pro-Western party bloc.

This party bloc around former Prime Minister and EU Council President Donald Tusk (66) consists of the three-way alliance of the Civic Coalition, the Third Way and the New Left. He won 53.7 percent of the vote.

In the short-term cabinet of previous Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (55), there are almost only unknown faces, apart from Morawiecki himself and his Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak (54). The formation of a government that will only be in power for two weeks is therefore seen as a political show by Morawiecki and President Duda, who was also a member of the PiS until he took office.

delay the transfer of power

Why this resistance? Duda cites a constitutional practice of entrusting the party with the most votes with forming a government. However, the opposition accuses Duda of wanting to use this joke for weeks to prevent political changes.

The PiS has been in constant conflict with the EU, including over controversial judicial reform and repeated demands for trillions in world war reparations. Donald Tusk, who is expected to become the new Prime Minister, represents a pro-European course and a more conciliatory policy towards Germany.

According to Kai-Olaf Lang, 56, a Poland expert at the Science and Politics Foundation in Berlin, the short-term formation of a government should allow the PiS to make some personnel decisions and make the coming depoliticization of the media more difficult.

Lang: “The current opposition also suspects that the PiS government could use the time it has left to cover up events or destroy information that could get it into trouble in the investigation of unwanted developments or violations of the law by Donald Tusk and his followers have planned. .»

PiS faces fierce opposition

The appointment of this short-term government is “the last gasp of the election loser,” says Lang. With this strong final accent, the PiS hopes to give the opposition a successful start. “The PiS will not be a constructive opposition, but rather an unyielding counterpart to the future governing coalition.”

In Poland, a new government must approve a vote of confidence in parliament within fourteen days of being sworn in. The next meeting will take place on December 11. If Morawiecki fails, his successors are already in the starting blocks: the three-party alliance has already signed a coalition agreement and divided the departments. It will be the day when a new era begins in Poland.

Source: Blick