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Poland's likely new PM Tusk names his Cabinet: report

08.12.2023 07:00
Poland's opposition leader Donald Tusk, who is likely to be elected the country's next prime minister, is expected to meet with his prospective Cabinet members on Friday, according to a media report.
Donald Tusk (centre) in parliament on December 6, 2023.
Donald Tusk (centre) in parliament on December 6, 2023.PAP/Radek Pietruszka

Tusk's Cabinet will comprise 19 heads of ministries and at least four ministers without portfolios, private broadcaster TVN24 reported on Thursday. 

The former top EU official is scheduled to hold an informal meeting with his prospective team of ministers on Friday, it said.

Tusk's liberal Civic Coalition (KO) group is poised to take power in Poland, forming a coalition government with the centre-right Third Way alliance and the Left, after an election in October.

According to TVN24, Poland's new Cabinet led by Tusk will feature the Third Way alliance's Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz as deputy prime minister and defence minister; the Left's Krzysztof Gawkowski as deputy prime minister and digitisation minister; and former Ombudsman Adam Bodnar as justice minister.

Meanwhile, the Civic Coalition's Barbara Nowacka will be the new education minister, Radosław Sikorski will return to the post of foreign minister, while Izabela Leszczyna is set to be the next health minister, TVN24 reported.

Poland could have new PM on Monday: officials

Mateusz Morawiecki, Poland's head of government since 2017, 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.

If Morawiecki's Cabinet fails to secure a vote of confidence from MPs on Monday, December 11, the lower house will appoint another prime minister.

A bloc of opposition parties has put forward Tusk as their candidate for prime minister.

At 4:30 p.m. on Monday, the lower house will launch the procedure of electing a new head of government, including a floor debate and a vote at 8 p.m., the Sejm Office has said.

On the following day, the new prime minister will address MPs at 9 a.m., outlining his planned policies and the proposed team of ministers, and ask the Sejm for a vote of confidence in his Cabinet, the PAP news agency reported.

That vote is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Tuesday, December 12.

Tusk's Cabinet is then expected to be sworn in by the president on December 13.

One of the new prime minister's first tasks will be to attend a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels on December 14 and 15, TVN24 reported.

Tusk was Poland's prime minister from 2007 to 2014.

(pm/gs)

Source: TVN24rp.pl