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January 12, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 2
Poland's PiS puts
centrist face forward
as Morawiecki shakes
up cabinet
by general and presidential votes in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
The shake-up came just hours before Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki flew to Brussels to meet the president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker. Morawiecki tried to
ease tension with the EU over PiS policies that some of the dismissed ministers pursued, but he defended the necessity of the controversial judiciary reform introduced by the government late last year. The position of Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro who oversees the reform of the judiciary was never in doubt.
The scope of the changes hints that Morawiecki has been allowed a lot of manoeuvring room
by PiS’ chairman and de facto decision maker, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
The sacking of Defence Minister Antoni Maciere- wicz stands out in particular. It appears to be a success for President Andrzej Duda who as the head of the Polish armed forces was reportedly in conflict with the minister. Macierewicz had en- joyed strong backing from PiS’ most conservative supporters and there is speculation that unless he is given a new prominent post his dismissal might create friction in the PiS camp.
Some commentators claim, however, that Ma- cierewicz’s position is overstated and was eroded further by the minister’s own doings, such as mishandling the issue of purchasing helicopters for the Polish army. His commission probing the 2010 Smolensk plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski – Jaroslaw’s twin brother – turned
into a farce by pushing outlandish theories about the crash. Former home affairs minister Mariusz Blaszczak, Kaczynski’s long-time trusted aide, has replaced Macierewicz.
In more expected moves, Morawiecki sacked Environment Minister Jan Szyszko who gave Poland the worst press abroad in years for logging in the biodiversity hotspot, the Bialowieza Forest, which landed Poland in a court case against
the Commission. Szyszko has been replaced by Henryk Kowalczyk, until now a minister without portfolio in the PM’s office. Kowalczyk is seen as a moderate although he lacks experience in environmental policy.
Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski and Health Minister Konstanty Radziwill were also let go. Waszczykowski did little to further PiS’ position in the EU, while Radziwill had become a problem for the government at home for poor handling of a health care reform.
The new foreign minister is Jacek Czaputowicz who served as deputy foreign minister, while the new health minister is cardiologist Lukasz Szu- mowski, who is leaving his post as deputy science minister.
Digitalisation Minister Anna Strezynska – who is not a member of PiS and therefore lacked political power – was also dismissed despite being widely credited as competent. Her ministry will be liqui- dated and its work shifted to the new Ministry of Technology and Development.
The reshuffle involved some reorganisation of the ministries. The Ministry of Development will now cover development and investment, while a new Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology was created and will be headed by Jadwiga Emilewicz. Teresa Czerwinska will be the new finance min- ister, relieving PM Morawiecki of that caretaker function.