As expected, Poland’s conservative Prime Minister Morawiecki and his cabinet lost the vote of confidence in parliament. Now the previous opposition leader Tusk has been tasked with forming a government.
The previous Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki from the national conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) and his cabinet lost the vote of confidence in parliament. The result of the vote of 266 to 190 votes clears the way for a change of government almost two months after the election.
The MPs now commissioned the previous opposition leader Donald Tusk to form a government. The former EU Council President wants to present his cabinet on Tuesday and make a government statement. Then he has to ask the question of trust. Tusk’s liberal-conservative citizens’ coalition and its two coalition partners have a clear parliamentary majority and have already agreed on a coalition agreement. President Duda is expected to swear in the new government on Wednesday.
PiS received without a sufficient majority Government contract
Although Morawiecki’s PiS received the most votes in the parliamentary election, it was unable to attract enough alliance partners to form a government majority. With the help of President Andrzej Duda, the PiS delayed leaving power for almost eight weeks. Despite the majority in parliament, Duda gave the task of forming a government to Morawiecki and swore in his cabinet. It was foreseeable from the outset that this government would only remain in office for two weeks.
A change of power could also bring to an end a long-standing dispute between the EU and Poland, for example over the controversial judicial reform and the allocation of billions in frozen EU funds. The 66-year-old Tusk was Prime Minister from 2007 to 2014 and President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019 and therefore still has good contacts in Brussels. He has repeatedly stressed that he wants to “rebuild” Poland’s position in Europe.