Polish government has fulfilled only 12 of Tusk’s promised 100 policies in first 100 days in office

Poland’s government is facing criticism for only fulfilling 12 of the 100 policies its leader, Donald Tusk, promised to introduce in his first 100 days in office, a period that finishes this week.

In September last year, one month ahead of parliamentary elections, Tusk outlined 100 policies his centrist Civic Coalition (KO) planned to implement in its first 100 days in office. A coalition led by KO then took office on 13 December.

According to Wirtualna Polska, a leading news website that has been tracking the progress in implementing those promises, so far only 12 have been fully implemented and a further 10 partially implemented.

Another similar tracker run by Radek Karbowski, a political commentator, shows that the government has only fully implemented eight of Tusk’s promises, with a further four partially implemented.

Among the pledges that have been introduced according to both trackers are restoring state funding for IVF treatment, stopping logging in the most valuable forest areas, restoring funding for a child helpline, replacing the commissioner for children’s rights, and obtaining frozen EU funds.

Speaking today, KO MP Mariusz Witczak admitted that Tusk’s promised 100 policies in 100 days would not be fulfilled. However, he blamed the fact that KO has to rule with coalition partners and is also facing a hostile president – aligned with the opposition – who can veto laws.

“If we had a homogeneous government, if KO won 231 seats [a parliamentary majority], or preferably a number that would allow us to override the president’s veto, we would have the opportunity to be accountable for these 100 promises,” Witczak told Polskie Radio.

KO has 157 MPs in the 460-seat Sejm, the more powerful lower house of parliament, meaning it can only ensure a majority with the support of its coalition partners: the centre-right Third Way (Trzecia Droga), which has 64 MPs, and The Left (Lewica), which has 19.

Even together, the coalition does not have the requisite three fifths majority (276 seats) to overturn presidential vetoes. President Andrzej Duda’s current and final term in office expires next year.

As examples of promises that have been impossible to introduce due to differences within the ruling coalition, Witczak pointed to ending the near-total ban on abortion and raising the tax-free income threshold.

KO and The Left want to introduce abortion on demand whereas Third Way is only willing to restore the previous law that allowed abortion only in three narrowly defined circumstances. Witczak also said that The Left is opposed to KO’s aim to raise the tax-free income threshold.

Health minister Izabela Leszczyna told Polsat News today that Tusk’s 100 pledges “remain valid” and the government is “implementing [them] step by step”.

She argued that “a lot has already been achieved” but blamed the mess left by the previous government for delays. “We didn’t manage to do everything because after entering the ministries we saw the scale of backlogs and disastrous projects.”

However, the main opposition party, Law and Justice (PiS), which ruled Poland from 2015 until Tusk took power at the end of 2023, has rejected such accusations.

“There were supposed to be 100 policies for 100 days of government. This week will mark 100 days of government and it turns out that there are no such policies; instead, there are 100 frauds,” declared the head of PiS’s parliamentary caucus, Mariusz Błasczak, today.

He announced that PiS would itself this week present proposals to introduce some of the policies that the government has failed to pass, including the tax-free income threshold, payments to help new mothers return to work, and plans to remove concrete areas from towns and cities.

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Main image credit: Platforma Obywatelska/Twitter

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.