“President Andrzej Duda’s decision to entrust election loser Mateusz Morawiecki with forming and swearing in his government had nothing to do with civilized democratic standards, smooth transfer of power or political culture in Poland,” he said in the latest clear way a day after the inauguration of the new government, the new head of the Polish parliament, Simon Holownia.

The Polish president has appointed a politician who no longer has a majority in parliament as head of government. Even leading members of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, such as former minister Jacek Sasin, put Mateusz Morawiecki’s chances of success at 10% at most. The moment of truth is coming in 14 days. On December 11, the parliament will be asked to give a vote of confidence to the new government.

Handouts and fat subsidies are handed out

The balance of power in the new parliament is clear: Although PiS emerged in the elections on October 15, 2023 as the strongest force, it won only 194 seats. In order to govern, however, at least 231 seats are required. The prime minister, old and new, has repeatedly claimed he is holding talks with willing MPs from other parties, but has so far not revealed a single name of a potential defector. Last week he formally invited all opposition parties to negotiations on the formation of a government with the exception of the Coalition Platform (CO) of former European Council President Donald Tusk.

Morawiecki sees the formation of the new government as his last chance to win votes from the opposition. Through the public television TVP, he appealed for support while simultaneously warning of the vengeful tendencies of the opposition.

The chairman of the Law and Justice party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, intends to make the most of the window of time provided by the Polish Constitution to ensure a safe transition of the party to the opposition. Even at the last moment, they continue to hand out bribes to successful party members and fat subsidies to institutions close to PiS. Until the last day, the ruling Law and Justice party is trying to secure itself financially, but also legally from possible actions of future governments against it. A change in regulations that took place as recently as Monday is intended to consolidate its dominance of public media.

Tusk is preparing to take over the reins of the country

At the same time, the aim of the party that has been in power for eight years is to create a narrative for future election campaigns with the aim of maintaining high percentages. “We fought until the end. The German-controlled opposition is to blame for the fact that this successful government cannot continue its work,” PiS officials claim. It should be noted that local elections are held in Poland in April and European elections two months later.

Despite Morawiecki’s “suicide mission”, Donald Tusk’s centre-left coalition is already working in parliament at a high pace and preparing to take over the reins of the country. The parliamentary process to subsidize artificial insemination has already been launched. Three investigative committees will be convened on Tuesday. Among other things, MPs want to know whether the secret services controlled by the PiS government were monitoring the opposition through the Pegasus spy system. In addition, the visa issue scandal is expected to be investigated. Polish media claim that various countries in Asia and Africa were granted visas in exchange for not inconsiderable sums.

As everything shows, the new government of Donald Tusk will probably be able to take office in three weeks from today on December 13.