Tusk fails in bid to overturn presidential crypto-regulation veto despite national-security appeal

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk today called a classified meeting of parliament in an effort to persuade opposition MPs to help overturn opposition-aligned President Karol Nawrocki’s veto of a bill intended to regulate the crypto-assets market.

Tusk said that the issue was a matter of national security because “part of the cryptocurrency market is clearly…infiltrated and controlled by Russian and Belarusian entities”. Russia has also used cryptocurrencies to pay operatives carrying out sabotage in Poland.

However, in a subsequent vote, MPs split along party lines, with the right-wing opposition refusing to reject Nawrocki’s veto. That meant the government failed to obtain the three-fifths majority needed to overturn it.

On Monday, Nawrocki vetoed the government’s bill to regulate the crypto-assets market, which was intended to bring the country in line with EU rules. The president argued that the measures were too onerous, lacked transparency, and “posed a real threat to the freedoms of Poles”.

Figures from the government, which has regularly clashed with Nawrocki on a variety of issues, criticised his decision, saying that it would leave Polish consumers open to becoming victims of fraud.

Today, they also argued that the issue has national-security implications. Speaking in an open parliamentary session, Tusk said that Nawrocki’s veto benefited an unnamed company which he described as having “criminal” sources of funding, with “Russian infiltration…evident” and influence “in the right-wing camp”.

Tusk added that “this market is very susceptible to the tools and methods of foreign intelligence services and mafias”. Speaking to the opposition, he asked: “Decide who you want to protect: national security or the Russian mafia that invests in these ventures?”

The prime minister did not reveal further details of the company in question or its alleged ties to Russia. However, he said that the information had been provided to MPs during a closed session held on Friday morning at his request.

MPs are legally barred from revealing what was said at that session, but afterwards opposition politicians told the media that they did not understand why the information had been classified. Law and Justice (PiS), the main opposition party, has submitted a motion to declassify it.

“Donald Tusk’s charade must be made public,” said PiS MP Janusz Kowalski, quoted by the Onet news website.

Nawrocki’s chief of staff, Zbigniew Bogucki, likewise said that the secrecy surrounding the parliamentary session was completely unnecessary and was being used to cause fear among citizens and to distract from other problems the government is facing.

He asked Tusk why, if there is allegedly such a threat, his government had not acted earlier and only presented crypto regulations now, when other EU member states did so much earlier.

In recent years, Poland has faced a campaign of sabotage carried out by operatives working on behalf of Russia. Very often, they are Ukrainian and Belarusian immigrants hired through the Telegram messaging service by the Russian security services and paid with cryptocurrency.

Earlier this week, Poland charged a Russian citizen accused of coordinating such operations. Authorities say he was recruited by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) because of his expertise in cryptocurrencies.

After both the secret and open parliamentary sessions had been held, the Sejm, the more powerful lower house, held a vote on whether to overturn Nawrocki’s veto. Doing so would require a three-fifths majority.

However, while a majority of 243 MPs – mostly from Tusk’s ruling coalition – voted in favour, that was 18 short of the required threshold, given that 192 opposition MPs were opposed.

Overturning presidential vetoes is extremely rare in Poland. The last time it happened was in 2009, under then-President Lech Kaczyński.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Anna Strzyżak/Kancelaria Sejmu (under

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.