Donald Tusk has won the confidence vote which he called in the hopes of solidifying his position following the victory of the conservative PiS-backed candidate Karol Nawrocki in the recent presidential election.
But even (if not especially) liberal media outlets agree that this has not lifted the prime minister out of trouble and that his pro-Brussels—or, better put, anti-Polish—agenda remains at risk.
Tusk won the vote by 243 votes to 210.
The PM took a thorough beating in the debate leading up to the vote, though he wasn’t present for all of this. PiS MP Łukasz Schreiber said “the Poles showed you the red card during the last presidential elections,” adding that this was “for your cynicism, for lies, for the migration pact, for the Green Deal, for the fact that Poles are living worse, for unfulfilled promises.”
His colleague, Michał Wójcik, also said Tusk had “attacked the state, the prosecutor’s office, public media, the Constitutional Tribunal, the National Council of the Judiciary, the judiciary, the opposition, the National Electoral Commission.”
You took our subsidies and grants, divided the nation, left us with high prices and shattered public finances. Resign!
Opponents of the Brussels-friendly administration stood outside the Parliament ahead of the vote with banners reading: “Tusk’s Government—Step Down.” Defenders urged the prime minister: “Not One Step Back.” Tusk has himself suggested that he will find ways to ignore the new conservative president’s vetoes, saying after the election: “We will govern and make decisions even with a president who blocks good changes.”
europeanconservative.com Polish correspondent Artur Ciechanowicz previously noted that a Tusk ‘victory’ in this confidence vote was inevitable because “coalition partners, despite growing dissatisfaction, are reluctant to force early elections, as they stand to lose more than Tusk’s Civic Platform.”