Former European Council President Donald
Tusk is expected to be appointed Prime Minister of Poland on Monday, during a Parliament
sitting set to captivate the nation.
Poland, a European Union and NATO
member, has seen an unprecedented level of interest in the workings of the
legislature since an October 15 election gave a majority to a broad alliance of
pro-European Union parties headed by Tusk.
Subscriptions to the chamber’s YouTube
channel have skyrocketed since it resumed work to around 439,000 on Sunday.
Certain sittings have attracted well
over a million viewers on the platform and one Warsaw cinema has even decided
to put Monday’s session onto the big screen. Tickets had sold out when Reuters
called to enquire on Sunday.
“Monday and Tuesday are two of the most
important days in Polish history since 1989,” said Michal Kobosko, deputy head
of the Poland 2050 party which forms part of the coalition poised to take
power, referring to the year Communist rule ended.
Incumbent Prime Minister Mateusz
Morawiecki’s nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party came first in the election
and President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, gave him the first shot at forming a
government.
However, this appears almost impossible
as Morawiecki lacks a majority and all other parties have ruled out working
with PiS, whose eight years in power have been marked by numerous disputes with
the European Union over issues including judicial independence that have led to
billions in funds being frozen.
Morawiecki will deliver a speech to the
chamber on Monday which will be followed by a vote of confidence.
While his hopes of remaining prime
minister seem slim, PiS lawmaker Radoslaw Fogiel says his speech will be a
chance to present the party’s vision for the nation.
“This will be a very good framework for
our future political endeavours, showing our voters what we want to achieve and
if actually someone else is elected as prime minister, this will be a very good
way to make comparisons,” he said.
PiS has sought to contrast its mix of
conservative social values and left-leaning economic policies with Tusk’s
liberal programme, which it says is beholden to foreign interests and indifferent
to the wellbeing of less affluent Poles.
If Morawiecki loses the vote, the job of
selecting a new prime minister will fall to parliament, where Tusk has the
backing of a clear majority. He would then address the chamber on Tuesday.
SHOWMAN
Poland’s October election signalled a
return to the European mainstream for Poland after eight years of PiS rule
during which critics say it undermined the independence of the courts, turned
state-owned media into a propaganda tube and fomented prejudice against minorities
like immigrants and the LGBT community.
“Many people… consider what happened
in Poland to be a kind of miracle,” said Katarzyna Lubnauer, a lawmaker from
Tusk’s Civic Coalition (KO) grouping, referring to the record turnout that gave
the opposition a majority despite the hostility of state-controlled media.
“Therefore, Poles are interested in what
is happening in the parliament, in this change.”
Some observers have also attributed the
surge in interest to the appointment of a celebrity as speaker of parliament.
Szymon Holownia’s wise-cracking approach
to running debates has charmed many viewers who first got to know him as the
host of a prime-time talent show.
“Szymon Holownia, the star showman, is
making it into an appropriate spectacle,” said Anna Materska-Sosnowska, a
political scientist at Warsaw University.
“He makes fun of people, he jokes, but
he does it in a very civilised way.”
However, not everyone is impressed.
“From the point of view of a humble
parliamentarian I would prefer a speaker who does not completely focus on
infotainment,” said Fogiel.
Agency
