Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk survived the vote of confidence in the parliament on Wednesday that he called for last week following his party’s shock loss in the presidential elections.
The globalist prime minister’s coalition held firm on Wednesday, with 243 MPs backing his government and 210 opposed, Rzeczpospolita reported. However, given the slim majority in the parliament, many left-wing policies favoured by Tusk are likely firmly off the table.
In a speech pleading for his coalition to remain behind him, Tusk said that his government could effectively compromise with President-elect Nawrocki and the conservatives on issues like deregulation. This message was somewhat undermined by the fact that most of the opposition PiS MPs boycotted the speech.
“I want to make it clear that I am asking for a vote of confidence because I have the conviction, faith and confidence that we have a mandate to govern and take responsibility for what is happening in Poland,” Tusk said.
Yet, with Nawrocki having veto power to block legislation without 60 per cent support in the parliament, the prospect of Tusk being able to pass key elements of his agenda, such as rolling back abortion restrictions and liberalising on LBGTQ+ matters, were effectively doomed by the loss of his party in the presidential elections.
Ahead of the confidence vote on Wednesday, opposition parliamentarians raised numerous objections to Tusk’s governance, such as targeting political rivals with lawfare, taking a backseat to Berlin and Paris on the Ukraine war, and bending the knee to Brussels.
Tusk favouring international interests has been a common refrain in Warsaw since he infamously quit his previous premiership to take up a more lucrative position as the president of the European Council in 2014.
Law and Justice MP Szymon Szynkowski pointed to Poland’s recent control of the rotating EU presidency, arguing that Tusk failed to gain any significant ground for Polish interests and had failed to meaningfully use the platform to challenge the impending EU migration pact. The pact will force low-migration countries like Poland to accept transfers of supposed asylum seekers from other high-migration EU member states.
Fellow PiS MP Marcin Przydacz criticised the speech for a lack of substance, saying that the Prime Minister merely focussed on his opposition to the conservative party.
“We would really like to listen to what your plans are, for example, to repair relations with the United States… these relations are bad today,” Przydacz said.
In contrast to Tusk, President-elect Nawrocki has been unabashedly supportive of U.S. President Donald Trump and even met with the American leader in the White House during the presidential election. Nawrocki has vowed to work closely with President Trump on issues such as bringing about a peace settlement to Ukraine.
On Tuesday, the incoming president said he had his first call with President Trump after the election, writing on X: “I had a very good telephone conversation with the President of the United States, Donald Trump. We talked about close alliance relations and political partnership relations. I invited President Trump to Poland. I also received an invitation to a meeting at the White House. God bless Poland! God bless America!”
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