Poland in crisis. Political War Between President and Prime Minister endangers the foreign policy of Warsaw

The President of Poland will visit US President Donald Trump this week, bringing a mixed message from a deeply divided Warsaw.

Polish Polish President Karol Nawrocki and Prime Minister Donald Tusk/Photo: X

The period of Poland at the top of the European foreign policy lasted only about a year and a half; Now this is diverted by an open political war between the president and the prime minister of the country, writes politico.eu.

Poland was absent from the Emergency meeting at the White House, in which the top European leaders were in a hurry to protect Volodimir Zelenski, the president of Ukraine, in front of Donald Trump. A previous attempt to revitalize the Weimar triangle (Poland, Germany and France) fades, as Paris and Berlin strengthen their bonds on their own, and the status of Poland as one of Kiev's most important allies is undermined by the political conflicts related to Ukrainian refugees.

These internal divisions will be fully exposed on Wednesday, when the new right -wing president, Karol Nawrocki, will be at the White House to visit his political ally Donald Trump, who has been open in the Polish presidential elections from the beginning of this year.

The government insists that Tusk holds the brakes of power

This is a situation that dissatisfies Prime Minister Pro-EU Donald Tusk, who sent a sharp message to Nawrocki, reminding him that, according to the Poland Constitution, the foreign policy is established by the government led by the prime minister.

“It will probably take some time for the president's office to be aware of the rules of the game and the consequences of the constitutional provisions. I will patiently explain and inform what such cooperation should mean.”Tusk commented.

The visit transformed into a power struggle between the two politicians, whose mutual antipathy is obvious.

Nawrocki's office reacted with contempt to the instructions received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the objectives of the visit to the US.

Rafał Leśkiewicz, Nawrocki's spokesman, called them a single-page “joke”.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs replied that those instructions represent “the position of the Polish government, which is, by its nature, concise.”

“The approach of the government is a reductionist. They see the president as a mere representative of politics or as a spokesman, reading prepared instructions“, Radosław Fogie, deputy of the People's Party Law and Justice (PIS), who supports Nawrocki.

“The representation of the country means something wider. The president, as a representative of the state, cannot be limited to the role of government spokesman”added Fogiel, who is also vice -president of the Commission for Foreign Affairs in Parliament.

But the government insists that Tusk holds the reins of power.

“The president represents Poland, but presents the position of the state, which is the position of the Government, even when he does not agree with it,” said the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Paweł Wroitski, for the Polish media, adding: “There can be two foreign policies for a single state.”

Fight for power

This dispute is part of a wider conflict on who will govern Poland.

Tusk runs a center coalition that took over the power in December 2023, after the removal of the PIS government, in power for eight years. Nawrocki was supported by Pis, and his victory in June, in conjunction with Trump's return to the White House, diverted Tusk's hopes to bring Poland fully back to the EU mainstream.

Tusk, however, managed to unlock billions of euros from EU funds that had been frozen by Brussels, due to concerns about justice policy and undermining the rule of law by the PIS government. His government was also well received at the main table of the European Block – supported by the rapid growth of Poland's defense and the excellent economic performance.

Now, Tusk is caught in a guerrilla war with Nawrocki, who uses his national mandate to try to outline a greater role, both internally and externally.

In his first weeks of mandate, Nawrocki put veto on a series of laws supported by the government.

During a stormy meeting last week between Nawrocki and Tusk's office, the president tried to get involved in the details of an airport in central Poland, rebuked the Minister of Finance and asked the Government to update his program to include his campaign promises.

Although Nawrocki will not have an easy mission to overturn Tusk internally, he has more freedom in foreign affairs.

The visit to Washington will be Nawrocki's first external movement – a sign of US importance to Poland and political bonds between Polish and American presidents.

Nawrocki and Trump will have “bilateral discussions, not only about Ukraine, but also about Poland's security. We have to focus on threats to Poland, because there are many. This does not mean that we will not discuss the future of Ukraine, because Poland cannot be excluded from this discussion,” said Marin Przydacz, Nawrocki's foreign policy.

Tusk and Nawrocki are to meet before the visit to Washington; The US alliance is considered essential for Poland's security by all parts of this deeply divided country.

Internal struggles affect U Kiev's relationships

The internal political struggles in Poland also affect the relations of Warsaw with Kiev. The government is facing Nawrocki about who is stronger about immigrants – including Ukrainians who fled to Poland after Russia's attack.

Last week, Nawrocki put a veto to a law supported by the government, which extends the aid for Ukrainians in Poland, arguing that it would put Ukrainians before the Poles regarding access to medical care and 800 zloquis per month for children.

The rejected law also asked the question of the financing from Poland of Ukraine's access to Elon Musk's satellite from Poland.

“It is the end of the Starlink Internet, which Poland provides Ukraine”wrote the Digital Business Minister, Krzysztof Gawkowski, on the X platform.

“Mr. President, you must stop the blind attacks on the government, on behalf of a political struggle.he added.

Nawrocki's office stressed that Poland's position against the support given to Ukraine's defense remains unchanged. He has now proposed his own law on aid for Ukrainians in Poland, who, he said, could restore Starlink's financing if Parliament – controlled by a strongly opposed majority against Nawrocki – will adopt it.

The government has announced that it will submit its own proposal to restore Starlink's financing for Ukraine before the next parliamentary session, scheduled between September 9 and 12.