Polish central bank to notify prosecutors of opposition leaders’ “unlawful threats” against governor

Poland’s central bank says it will today notify prosecutors of a suspicion of a crime committed by the leader and deputy leader of the largest opposition party, after they promised to remove its governor, Adam Glapiński, immediately following the next election.

The statements made by Donald Tusk, leader of Civic Platform (PO), and one of his deputies, Tomasz Siemoniak, amount to “unlawful threats and an attack on the independence and sovereignty of the NBP [National Bank of Poland]”, according to Glapiński.

Both Tusk and Siemoniak said in television interviews that they would remove the NBP chief from office the day after the next elections in the event of a PO victory, Glapiński said in a press conference last Friday, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP). Tusk also made such promises at a recent PO convention in the city of Radom.

“Siemoniak was kind enough to say, ‘strong men will come and remove the [NBP] president’,” Glapiński added. “I would be worried if Poland entered a period in its history in which strong men will be removing state officials from institutions that they don’t like. I hope it won’t come to that.”

Tusk also spoke of “removing me from the bank by force” and should face the legal consequences, Glapiński said.

Glapiński was elected to serve another six-year term as governor of Poland’s central bank in May with the support of the ruling national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party.

PO and other opposition parties, however, opposed the appointment. They accuse the central bank chief of being responsible, along with the government, for soaring inflation, which last month it reached a 25-year high, and of being under the political influence of PiS, whose chairman is a longstanding associate of Glapiński.

The opposition have also cited legal doubts as to whether Glapiński was eligible for a second term, after some lawyers said that his three-month tenure on the NBP’s board of directors in 2016 should be counted as the first of his two terms allowed by law.

Noting that in November Glapiński had predicted that inflation would begin to fall early in the new year, Tusk said at the conference in Radom that he is “not only incompetent and indecent in what he does” but also “illegal and will not be NBP president one single day longer, and no legislation will be needed for that,” reports Business Insider.

This had been confirmed by expert legal opinions prepared by the lawyers of President Andrzej Duda, Tusk claimed. “Even much less doubt would be enough to remove the guy from the NBP, and I will do it. I guarantee it!”

“I was appointed by the Polish president and the decision was later approved by the parliament,” Glapiński retorted at last week’s press conference. “I take it that if PO win the elections the president will also become illegal and ‘strong men’ will remove him as well?”

He added that President Duda had told him that Tusk’s claims about the supposed expert opinions were untrue. “This is simply a lie. It is plucked out of thin air.”

Speaking before the NBP’s announcement yesterday, Tusk reiterated his hope that Glapiński would soon be removed from office, citing legal opinions pointing to an “irremovable legal defect” surrounding his appointment, reports RMF24.

“It drives us all to despair when we see President Glapiński, who says completely different things about inflation in the coming months even from the NBP’s own, official forecast,” said Tusk. “People clutch their heads in disbelief, and I’m not surprised.”

Siemoniak responded to news of the NBP’s promised legal action by tweeting that “even denouncing opposition politicians to the prosecutor 1,000 times” would not allow Glapiński to escape responsibility for the “catastrophic” price rises.

“For millions of Poles he is and will continue to be the face of the government’s contempt for their fate. Hysterical attacks will not change that. Quite the reverse,” he added.

Main image credit: Krystian Maj/KPRM (under CC BY 3.0 PL)

Ben Koschalka

Ben Koschalka is a translator and senior editor at Notes from Poland. Originally from Britain, he has lived in Kraków since 2005.