Tusk appoints four new ministers in first reshuffle of Polish government

Prime Minister Donald Tusk has named four new ministers in his first government reshuffle since taking office five months ago. He will replace the heads of the interior, culture, state assets and development ministries, who all resigned to run in next month's European elections.

“The ministers we are saying farewell to today have carried out their duties effectively,” Tusk said at a press conference on Friday, along with outgoing and newly appointed ministers.

“For the first few months, [in office] The prime minister added that the aim was to “break down walls”, referring to the challenge of tackling the legacy left by the Law and Justice (PiS) government that ruled from 2015 until the end of 2023. Things are going well. ”

The ministers who submitted their resignations today are Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz (Culture), Marcin Kierwiński (Interior Affairs), Boris Budka (State Assets) and Krzysztof Hedman (Development and Technology).

Their exit had already been expected since the quartet was named as a candidate in the European elections last month.

Mr. Sienkiewicz, Mr. Kierwiński, and Mr. Budka are representatives of Mr. Tusk's centrist party, Civic Union (KO), while Mr. Hedman is a representative of the center-right Polish People's Party (PSL), which is also part of Mr. Tusk's ruling coalition. I am a candidate.

Kierwiński will be replaced by Tomasz Siemoniak, a political veteran who is already serving as Minister of State for Security (and will continue in this role alongside the new minister). He also served as Defense Minister from 2011 to 2015 under the former Tusk administration.

The new Minister of Culture is Hanna Wroblewska, who served as director of Warsaw's Zachenta National Gallery for 11 years and most recently as deputy director of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum. Since December, she has been the Director-General of the National Cultural Facilities Department at the Ministry of Culture.

Budka will be replaced at the Ministry of State Assets by Jakub Jaworowski, an economist who worked in Prime Minister Tusk's office during the previous prime minister's tenure. Krzysztof Pasik, who has been the head of the PSL's parliamentary group since last year, will be the new development minister.

The four new ministers will be sworn in by President Andrzej Duda on Monday.

Sienkiewicz, among the outgoing ministers, has played a prominent and controversial role since his appointment in December.

He was tasked with leading the new government's efforts to eliminate PiS' influence over public media, which had become a mouthpiece for the party's propaganda. It was a mission he nearly accomplished, but the method raised many legal question marks.

“Sienkiewicz had a particularly difficult task,” Tusk said today. “I would like to thank you on behalf of myself and the entire nation, because improving the state of public media, both politically and organizationally, was one of the fundamental tasks assigned to the government. [ruling] Union. ”

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Main image credit: Krystian Maj/KPRM (based on CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Daniel Tilles is the editor-in-chief Notes from Poland. He has written for a wide range of publications on Polish issues. foreign policy, politiko europe, EU observer and Jenik Gazeta Prauna.