Deputy PM and head of junior coalition partner expelled from Polish government

Poland’s ruling coalition is in jeopardy after it was announced that Jarosław Gowin, a deputy prime minister and leader of a junior coalition partner, has been expelled from the government by the prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki.

The decision came in response to criticism by Gowin of the government’s flagship “Polish Deal” economic programme, which he says includes harmful tax rises. But it follows over a year of growing tension between the parties in the national-conservative United Right (Zjednoczona Prawica) government.

“The prime minister has asked President Andrzej Duda to recall Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin from his position,” said government spokesman Piotr Müller at a press conference this evening. He announced that Morawiecki will temporarily take over Gowin’s brief as development minister.

Müller explained that the reasons for Gowin’s dismissal were “his recent actions undermining the United Right” and his “poor performance regarding important and key bills relating to lowering taxes”.

The decision followed the latest salvo by Gowin against the Polish Deal. Speaking to Polsat News yesterday, he described the plans as “extremely socialist” for increasing taxes and social contributions paid by businesses.

The main ruling party, Law and Justice (PiS), has argued that the Polish Deal will benefit most people, only increasing contributions from the wealthy. But Gowin’s more pro-business Agreement (Porozumienie) party has warned that it would “hit millions of hard-working Poles” with higher taxes.

Last week, a deputy development minister from Agreement who had criticised the Polish Deal was fired by the prime minister. In response, Agreement held a meeting on Saturday at which they set out a series of conditions to remain in government.

This morning, PiS spokesman Radosław Fogiel indicated that the party was willing to make concessions, telling Polskie Radio that he “thinks the vast majority of [Agreement’s] conditions can be met”.

However, this afternoon, two media outlets – Wirtualna Polska and wPolityce – reported that PiS’s political committee was holding a meeting to discuss Gowin’s position in the government. Shortly afterwards, his expulsion was announced.

As well the dispute over taxes, Gowin has also recently criticised a PiS proposal to prevent ownership of media outlets by entities from outside the European Economic Area. The move is seen to be aimed in particular at US-owned TVN, Poland’s biggest private broadcaster, which is often critical of PiS.

Gowin, who has held talks with representatives of the Biden administration over the issue, warned his colleagues that passing such a law would harm relations with Washington and reduce US investment in Poland. He also expressed concern that it could reduce media freedom and plurality.

Questions now hang over the future of the ruling coalition. Gowin’s party has 13 MPs, more than enough to deny the government its current two-seat majority. However, reports have suggested that, were Gowin to leave the coalition, some of his MPs would defect to PiS.

Gowin has already faced a recent rebellion, with a number of his MPs breaking away from Agreement (reportedly with PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński’s encouragement) to form a separate party within the ruling coalition.

It is also possible that a PiS-led minority government would be able to survive, relying on the votes of smaller parties or individual MPs to pass legislation. Müller today said that the government “invites all MPs, regardless of political colours,” to support the Polish Deal.

Meanwhile, PiS has also faced discontent from its other junior coalition partner, the hard-right United Poland (Solidarna Polska), which has 19 MPs. It rebelled against the government earlier this year, voting not to ratify the European Union’s coronavirus recovery fund.

More recently, United Poland’s leader, justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, has spoken out against his government colleagues – including Morawiecki and Kaczyński – for suggesting that Warsaw should comply with recent European Court of Justice rulings to suspend a disciplinary chamber for judges.

Main image credit: Jakub Wlodek / Agencja Gazeta

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.