Polish Prime Minister Resigns

Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło resigned this week. Her departure has come despite the fact that she survived a no-confidence vote in parliament called for by the liberal opposition party.

Since Szydlo’s Euroskeptic Law and Justice Party (PiS) came to power two years ago, Polish-EU relations have declined markedly. The EU has criticized PiS for its plans for a judicial reform, which many believe will undermine democracy and rule of law, and its refusal to adhere to the EU migrant relocation plan.

As PM, Szydlo has overseen decisions like these, which have caused clashes with the EU. According to Visegrad Insight editor-in-chief Wojciech Przybylski, although Szydlo may not have done anything specific to warrant a dismissal, “for the last five or six weeks, we’ve been in a soap opera started by her, titled ‘reconstruction of the government.’”

Moreover, the PiS have named finance minister and former PM Mateusz Morawiecki as Szydlo’s successor. He is thought to have a more moderate stance when it comes to the European Union. He speaks German and English, and has experience in big business.

“You can say that he’s going to be more of a person with some ambitions to have more say in the European efforts. However, we will also see how much that influence is limited by the headquarters of the ruling party,” Przybylski told Hromadske

Hromadkse spoke to Wojciech Przybylski via Skype to discuss what Szydlo’s resignation means for Poland and how the the country has reacted to the news.

My first question will be about Beata Szydło’s departure. There are no official reasons about that. Could you explain to us?

First of all, Beata Szydło is apparently not departing. She’s being degraded from Prime Minister to Deputy Prime Minister and that is unprecedented, hardly ever seen in the Western Democracies. Secondly, she did not do anything to dismiss her however, for the last five or six weeks, we’ve been in a soap opera started by her, titled ‘reconstruction of the government.’ So the media and politicians were speculating for almost two months about who can replace her, which ministers were going to be dismissed. And overall the government came into a paralysis with ministries not being able to function and ministers officially complaining that they cannot perform their duties, implement policies. Also because the heads of the departments, civil servants were reluctant or less mobilized to do anything while everything might change in any moment. So this was the last moment’s call to make a change that was pre-announced perhaps too early and without a proper plan. So the situation was also calling for some action for some time because of an internal dispute between different fractions within the government. And also we heard and we saw a lot of tension between the presidential palace and the Ministry of Defense. We have heard a lot of criticism towards the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There’s a big affair with the European Union because of the Ministry of the Environment. All of that unnecessary, all of that coming out of the blue— not out of real interest.  More you can portray it coming out of internal ambitions and being unfit for duty for several politicians, in my opinion.

She has kind of reputation of being quite hard on European issues. Do you think it will change if she is replaced?

I’m not really sure what does it mean to be hard on European issues. It’s known also that she’s been trying to have softer hands on the issues regarding EU that included among other the reelection of Donald Tusk for the second term as President of the European Union Council. However, her decision has been overturned and she was forced to vote differently and perform differently by the inner circle of the PIS Party, the governing party, namely by Mr. Kaczyński and the headquarters of the party, just a week before the election took place, compromising her in the European arena as a credible politician. Since that moment, you can hardly see any respect for the Polish government and her authority, not only within the Polish government but mostly among the European member-states. Nobody wants to talk to her and didn’t want to talk to her for a while. Also because everybody knew the final decisions are made by Mr. Kaczyński. Now with Mr. Moravitsky who speaks languages, he’s more educated, he’s got experience in big business as well--he’s been heading a branch of the Santander Bank here in Poland—you can say that he’s going to be more of a person with some ambitions to have more say in the European efforts. However, we will also see how much that influence is limited by the headquarters of the ruling party.

What is the reaction of Polish society, expert community and media about the departure of Beata Szydło?

Everybody is a little bit astonished; everybody is a bit puzzled. Everybody was expecting Mr. Kaczyński however not optimal solution yet to be the right solution to take power and take control of the government and become Prime minister. So everybody is a bit puzzled. This announcement of Mr. Moravitsky—these rumors were going for quite some time but nobody was really considering it as a real option. And everybody’s surprised to see that. Most often the commentators say that they are surprised that he took the job knowing all the risks and knowing how limited and potentially fragile this position will be. But at the same time, everybody is reminded how much he wanted—his personal ambition was to become Prime Minister. So there he is. There he is nominated and he’s been officially appointed by the President to lead the government now. Also in an unprecedented situation where the Prime Minister is becoming Prime Minister of a government he basically inherits from the predecessor; he does not construct a new government. All of that seems to be…and commentators also point out that he is going to be more of a technical Prime Minister, even weaker perhaps in political powers than Beata Szydło. That remains to be seen and that remains to be seen after we know all the package of the government and after his exposé is delivered.

And also don’t forget that after the laws that are being now processed in the parliament are going to be submitted for the presidential signature. The laws limiting the independence of the judiciary system and manipulating the electoral system for the upcoming local elections.