Tusk urges Nawrocki to sign government reshuffle as Funds Ministry stays in limbo

In brief

• Prime Minister Tusk is urging President Nawrocki to sign personnel changes in the government, mainly at the Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy.
• The former funds minister remains formally in office on leave because her dismissal has not been countersigned.
• Tusk warns the delay could endanger billions of euros for Poland, while the presidential palace has not said when it will act.

Stalled appointments in the funds ministry

Prime Minister Donald Tusk has publicly demanded that President Karol Nawrocki formally sign the documents for the personnel changes in the cabinet, most of them concerning the Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy (Tusk grzmi po szczycie w Dublinie. „Panie prezydencie, tu nie ma się co zastanawiać” – Rzeczpospolita) (Ministerstwo sparaliżowane, miliardy euro na szali. Tusk apeluje do prezydenta – Rzeczpospolita). Tusk described the president's inaction as an idiotic situation and argued that the ministry cannot afford to wait (Tusk o zwłoce prezydenta. "Utrzymuje idiotyczną sytuację" – Wirtualna Polska).

Who is affected

Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz resigned from the post of funds minister on her own initiative. Because the president has not countersigned her dismissal, she formally remains a minister, though on leave (Donald Tusk apeluje do Karola Nawrockiego. "Szkoda każdego dnia" – Onet). Tusk's nominee for the position, Agnieszka Bartol, whom he proposed at the end of October, has reportedly not yet been sworn in, and day-to-day management of the ministry rests with a deputy minister (Zmiany w rządzie. Prezydent czeka, niepokój w resorcie funduszy – Wirtualna Polska). Sources do not state a swearing-in date for her.

A second change is also waiting. Deputy Prime Minister Andrzej Domański has been waiting for weeks to be sworn in as deputy prime minister, and the president has not set a date for that either.

What is at stake

He said talks on further payments are being finalised and that the matter cannot wait (Tusk apeluje do prezydenta o pilne podpisanie zmian w rządzie. Wskazuje na rozmowy o funduszach UE – Bankier.pl). He pointed out that Bartol was part of the Polish delegation at a European summit in Dublin, where such talks take place.

Presidential response

The president's palace has so far not announced when it will act. Its earlier statements set conditions for the appointments (Pałac Prezydencki odpowiada na zaproszenie Tuska. Nawrocki stawia warunki – wiadomosci.gazeta.pl). Relations between the two sides have been tense; on Armistice Day the president's chief of staff, Paweł Szefernaker, accused Tusk of playing a role he does not fill (Pałac odpowiedział Tuskowi. "Wczoraj demokrata, dziś gołąbek pokoju" – Wirtualna Polska).

What happens next depends on the president's signature. Without it, neither the resignation nor the new appointments take legal effect, and the funds ministry remains without a confirmed minister.

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