The incumbent Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had previously failed with his new cabinet in parliament. In a vote of confidence on Monday, only 190 of 456 MPs voted for Morawiecki’s national-conservative PiS government. 266 against.
Morawiecki used his last appearance as head of government to criticize Tusk. Morawiecki said his liberal policies as head of government from 2007 to 2014 made Poland subject to foreign interests and put a strain on the economy. In his speech, the right-wing conservative politician outlined a vision of a Poland that would become a “country of well-paid specialists” and have a “standard of living at the level of Western Europe, without repeating the mistakes made there.”
A member of Tusk’s Citizens’ Coalition (KO) stood with her back to Morawiecki during his speech as a sign of protest. Tusk commented on the PiS head of government’s swansong on the X platform (formerly Twitter) with the following words: “Ready, steady, go!”. The first democratically elected president of Poland after the fall of the Communism, the trade union leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Lech Walesa, was present in the Sejm and received a standing ovation from the opposition. The 80-year-old wore a sweater with the inscription “Constitution”. With this, opponents of the ruling party PiS express their criticism of the rule of the party they see as a democratic backslide.
In the parliamentary elections on October 15, three pro-European parties from the previous opposition, led by former EU Council President Tusk, won a clear majority of 248 of the total 460 seats in the Sejm. A coalition agreement has already been signed. The PiS only received 194 seats and has no coalition partner.
Despite this majority, President Andrzej Duda, who comes from the ranks of the PiS, commissioned Morawiecki to form a government and sworn in his cabinet at the end of November. The constitution stipulates that the head of government must submit a vote of confidence in parliament within 14 days of being sworn in. Only if he fails, it is Parliament’s turn and can choose a government from its majority.
More on the subject: Poland’s parliament denies PiS government a majority
Tusk has announced that he wants to make a government statement on Tuesday and in turn ask for a vote of confidence. The presidential office said on Saturday that President Duda “does not intend to delay”. The new government could therefore be sworn in on Wednesday morning.
Tusk could therefore take part in the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday. The long-time head of government (2007-14), president of the EU Council (2014-19) and president of the conservative European People’s Party (2019-22) has promised to “rebuild” Poland’s position in Europe. “If anyone can lead Poland back to the EU’s democratic path, it is Tusk,” a senior EU official told Archyde.com. “We trust his leadership.”
It is eagerly awaited to see how the relationship between the former close EU allies Poland and Hungary develops under Tusk. The Hungarian online portal “nepszava.hu” wrote on Monday that the relationship would cool down. It referred to statements by Tusk that Poland was facing a Hungarian government that had openly sided with the Russians. It remains to be seen what he (Tusk) can do in such a situation. Tusk wanted to try to negotiate with the Hungarian Prime Minister. However, he does not believe that he will be able to change Orbán’s position given his close relations with Russia and Putin.
