Polish PM says his new gov’t has ’20-30% chance’ of parliamentary approval
Poland’s conservative prime minister has said that his new Cabinet has a „20 to 30 percent” chance of receiving a vote of confidence from parliament next week.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki takes questions from reporters in Warsaw on Monday, December 4, 2023.PAP/Radek Pietruszka
Mateusz Morawiecki made the statement at a news conference in Warsaw on Monday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Morawiecki, Poland’s head of government since 2017, said he believed his new Cabinet, sworn in last month, had a „20 to 30 percent chance” of being greenlighted by the new parliament, where his Law and Justice (PiS) party has 193 of 460 seats.
The prime minister told reporters that he would not „give names” of MPs with whom he was discussing support for his new government, as „they asked for confidentiality.”
Morawiecki said the new Cabinet had already prepared „several policies for citizens,” including a zero VAT rate on food, seniority pensions and a freeze on energy prices.
He stated that Law and Justice had expanded renewables in Poland, while the opposition bloc aimed to „halve the minimum distance beween windfarms and residential areas,” after taking power, the PAP news agency reported.
The prime minister also told reporters that his government would demand that the European Union „reinstate permits for Ukrainian haulers entering the bloc.”
Polish transport companies have been blocking Poland’s checkpoints with Ukraine since November 6 in protest against the abolition of permits for Ukrainian firms.
The EU abolished the permits under its 2022 agreement with Kyiv to liberalise the „carriage of freight by road,” according to officials.
Morawiecki was reappointed prime minister by President Andrzej Duda in November, but his conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party lacks a majority in the new parliament.
On December 11, the prime minister is set to deliver a policy speech in parliament, followed by a floor debate and a vote of confidence, the PAP news agency reported.
If Morawiecki’s Cabinet fails to secure a vote of confidence from MPs, the lower house will appoint another prime minister.
A bloc of opposition parties has put forward Donald Tusk, leader of the liberal Civic Coalition (KO), as their candidate for head of government.
Tusk, a former top EU official, told reporters on Friday that he expected to be elected as Poland’s next prime minister on December 11.
He added that his policy speech as the new prime minister, and the vote of confidence in his Cabinet, „will be held on December 11, if time permits, or on December 12.”
The opposition parties expect the president to swear in the new government on December 13, Tusk also said.
Polish voters elected a new set of 460 MPs and 100 senators when they went to the ballot box on October 15.
Morawiecki’s right-wing Law and Justice party won Poland’s October 15 election, but lost its parliamentary majority and looks unlikely to stay in power for a third consecutive term.
A bloc of pro-EU opposition parties in mid-November secured a resounding victory in Poland’s new parliament during its first key vote to elect a house Speaker.
Poland’s opposition groups have signed an agreement to form a coalition government, pledging to restore the rule of law, promote green energy and relax abortion rules, among other policies.
Tusk was Poland’s prime minister from 2007 to 2014.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Polsat News
