Polish PM to reshuffle Cabinet within hours: official

Deputy Senate Speaker Adam Bielan told private broadcaster TVN24 on Monday morning that "the government reshuffle will be conducted in a matter of hours rather than days."

According to Poland's PAP news agency, the impending reshuffle will be made before Morawiecki boards a plane for talks in Brussels on Tuesday.

New government ministers will be sworn in on Tuesday, the agency reported, quoting unofficial sources within the ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party.

The head of the Prime Minister's Office, Michał Dworczyk, told public broadcaster Polish Radio on Monday that the staffing changes expected to be announced by Morawiecki had been worked out in consultation with top figures in the ruling PiS party as well as President Andrzej Duda.

Morawiecki's Cabinet was sworn into office in December. All government ministers serving under Poland's previous conservative Prime Minister Beata Szydło kept their jobs.

The head of the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party, Jarosław Kaczyński, said at the time that he was “almost certain” that a government reshuffle would take place "at the start of" the new year.

Kaczyński added that “the changes [to the Cabinet] will be significant.”

A week after taking over as prime minister, Morawiecki appointed a new chief of staff and replaced the head of the Prime Minister’s Office.

In a broad-ranging policy speech in parliament outlining his Cabinet’s priorities, Morawiecki vowed in December that his new conservative government would focus both on economic development and on helping poorer citizens.

Morawiecki is scheduled to speak to Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, in Brussels on Tuesday.

Poland’s Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski in late December announced that the government would spend the next three months holding talks with European Union countries in response to the European Commission triggering Article 7 of the EU Treaty against Warsaw.

The European Commission took the unprecedented step on December 20 after Polish lawmakers passed contentious bills overhauling the country's judiciary.

(gs/pk)

Source: PAP, Polish Radio