Only a hundred meters separate the president's and government's headquarters in Warsaw.
Ideologically, it is still miles between the EU-oriented Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the incoming strongly conservative President Karol Nawrocki, backed by the Brussels-skeptical opposition party Law and Justice (PIS).
Inside the government office, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski is trying to tone down the drama after Nawrocki's victory in the presidential election.
– In his first interview, he is clearly in agreement with the national line that Putin's Russia must be held back, says Sikorski to TT and other visiting Brussels correspondents.
Risk of new elections?
The election of Nawrocki was still a cold shower for the Polish government. The hope among Sikorski and Tusk was that they would get a government-loyal president in Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski and thus get through a number of promised political changes.
Now, the broad right-center-left coalition is instead threatened by an acute government crisis – even if the foreign minister is convinced that they will not fall in the vote of confidence held in parliament on Wednesday.
– There is absolutely no chance for it, says Sikorski confidently.
In the long run, it is however uncertain how long they will be able to hold together.
”Even if new elections are unlikely this year – it would be suicide for Tusk's coalition given the far-right's majority in public opinion – it can happen as early as 2026”, warns Piotr Buras from the think tank ECFR in a dispatch.
USA plays in
Both Tusk and Nawrocki are from Gdansk in northern Poland. Here in the liberally dominated old Hanseatic city, there is no doubt about who has the most support – or at least is the least unpopular.
Nawrocki received only around 30 percent of the votes in Gdansk. In one of the bars in the center, a drink is served that has been named "presidential fraud".
Still, it was Nawrocki who won the election overall, largely thanks to strong support in the much more conservative countryside, which liked his promises of tougher measures against immigrants from Ukraine.
Even the USA has played an important role. Many voters see the openly Donald Trump-backed Nawrocki as a guarantee that the USA will continue to support Poland, regardless of Trump's criticism of the EU.
Even Foreign Minister Sikorski seems to see something positive in Nawrocki – with hopes of good contacts with Washington from both the government and the president.
– We can play on two pianos at the same time, says Sikorski.
Wiktor Nummelin/TT
Facts: Government and President in Poland
TT
Poland has been ruled since the 2023 parliamentary election by a broad coalition government, with Donald Tusk from the conservative Civic Coalition as Prime Minister. This also includes the social democratic New Left, the rural party PSL, and the liberal Poland 2050.
The opposition is dominated by the former ruling party Law and Justice (PIS) and the growing far-right party Confederation.
The government has the main power, but can have its decisions stopped if the president vetoes them.
President since 2015 is Andrzej Duda, formally independent, but long associated with and backed by PIS. Duda is replaced in August by the newly elected Karol Nawrocki, who is also backed by the same party.
