Polish government clashes with president over recall of 50 ambassadors

Mar 14, 2024 | Politics

Poland’s government has announced plans to replace over 50 ambassadors appointed under the former Law and Justice (PiS) administration. That has prompted a negative response from PiS-aligned President Andrzej Duda, who is constitutionally responsible for appointing and dismissing ambassadors.

The clash marks the latest conflict between the president and the ruling coalition that replaced PiS in power in December. It came just one day after Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk had put on a display of unity by jointly visiting the White House to meet Joe Biden.

On Thursday afternoon, the foreign ministry announced that its head, Radosław Sikorski, had “decided to end the mission of over 50 ambassadors”. That represents more than half of all of Poland’s ambassadors.

“The government, which has constitutional responsibility for foreign policy, believes that the necessary exchange of Polish representatives abroad serves a better, professional implementation of the difficult challenges facing Polish foreign policy today,” it added.

Shortly afterwards, Sikorski himself told broadcaster RMF that the decision was “pretty much a routine thing. The previous government said that ambassadors represent the government rather than the state. Elections have their consequences”.

Under Poland’s constitution, foreign policy is the responsibility of the government. However, the constitution also stipulates that ambassadors are appointed and dismissed by the president.

Therefore, any such decisions would have to be approved by Duda, who is aligned with the former ruling PiS party and has regularly clashed with the new government.

Sikorski told RMF that such decisions would be made “in dialogue” with the president and “in a civilised way”. However, he added that for the time being he would not name specific ambassadors who he wanted to replace.

The foreign ministry’s announcement was, however, quickly met with a negative response from Duda and his senior staff.

The president, who was still in the United States when the news emerged, reminded the press that “no Polish ambassador can be appointed or dismissed without the president’s signature. The decision made by the president is of fundamental importance”.

One of his secretaries of state, Małgorzata Paprocka, likewise told Polsat News that “ambassadors are appointed and dismissed by the president, so the foreign ministry’s announcement is very much exaggerated”.

Paprocka added that the president was willing to “sit down at the table” with the government to discuss the issue. But she said that he would not simply sign off on the government’s demands.

Prime Minister Tusk also addressed the issue yesterday. He warned that, if Duda was unwilling to accept the government’s recommendations, “we will, of course, recall the ambassadors until the president’s position changes or the president changes”. Duda’s term in office ends next year.

In such a scenario, embassies would be run by their chargé d’affaires, said Tusk. “If such a solution satisfies the President, no problem. Either way, we have to improve and build a team loyal to the Polish state.”

Duda’s chief of staff, Marcin Mastalerek, expressed disappointment that the government was seeking to act in this manner just one day after Duda and Tusk had jointly visited the White House in a show of unity.

“Yesterday, Poland showed cooperation in security and international affairs,” Mastalerek told Polsat. “It is completely incomprehensible that the prime minister acts so unilaterally a day after such a successful visit.”


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Main image credit: MSZ (under CC BY 3.0 PL)

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