Split in Polish government’s junior coalition partner threatens ruling majority

One of the parties in Poland’s ruling coalition has become embroiled in conflict, amid the disputed suspension of four senior members and a rebel faction refusing to recognise its leader, a deputy prime minister.

Agreement (Porozumienie) is one of two junior coalition partners to the main ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party. Seen as the most moderate member of the government, it is led by Jarosław Gowin, who also served in the previous government led by Civic Platform (PO), now the main opposition group.

Last night it emerged that a vote had been held to suspend four of Agreement’s members, including one of its most senior figures, Adam Bielan, a member of the European Parliament. Media reports suggested that Bielan had been found to have “repeatedly breached the party’s statute”.

Immediately, however, other figures in the party disputed the validity of the vote. “Many members (myself included) refused to take part because secrecy was not ensured and the presidium was composed in a form inconsistent with the statute,” announced Kamil Bortniczuk, an Agreement MP.

The dispute then took another turn when some party members claimed that Gowin is, in fact, not actually the leader of Agreement because, after his term expired three years ago, the party did not hold new leadership elections. As a consequence, the party’s leadership passes to Bielan as president of its national congress, they claimed.

Speaking to broadcaster RMF FM today, Bielan declared that “I represent Agreement” in relations with its coalition partners. He said that he had informed the prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, and the leader of PiS, Jarosław Kaczyński, that they can continue to count on Agreement’s cooperation.

However, this morning the head of PiS’s executive committee, Krzysztof Sobolewski, told Polskie Radio that they were still treating Gowin as leader of their coalition partner and had received no “official information” otherwise.

At a press conference this afternoon, during which the government announced the loosening of lockdown restrictions, Gowin, who also serves as development minister, appeared and spoke alongside Morawiecki.

Gowin’s supporters in Agreement maintain that he is leader, reports RMF. This afternoon, the party’s Twitter account posted a letter signed by 14 of party’s 19 MPs and senators expressing their “full support” for Gowin as Agreement’s “democratically elected leader”. Gowin himself has not commented publicly on the dispute.

In a further bizarre twist, it emerged this morning that the locks at the party’s national headquarters had been changed yesterday to “improve security”, reports Gazeta.pl.

There also still remains no official explanation for the rupture in the party. However, commentators and inside sources have said that the dispute has been brewing since last spring, when Gowin quit the government in protest against PiS’s plans to hold presidential elections by post amid the pandemic.

While some in Agreement backed Gowin in his ultimately successful confrontation with Kaczyński, others did not. In September, ahead of a government reshuffle and renewed coalition agreement, Jadwiga Emilewicz, who had replaced Gowin as deputy prime minister, quit his party, saying the two had “fundamental differences”.

Anonymous Agreement sources told Wirtualna Polska today that those around Gowin are concerned that Bielan – a former member of PiS – has been growing too close to Kaczyński. Yesterday’s suspensions were a way of “clearing the party of PiSites”, said one.

However, Bielan’s allies have themselves reportedly been angered by Gowin seeking to, as they saw it, illegitimately place his allies on party bodies in order to ensure his continued leadership.

A leading opposition MEP, Bartosz Arłukowicz of PO, told broadcaster TVN that the “cabaret” taking place in Agreement is all part of “Jarosław Kaczyński’s game”. Arłukowicz claimed that Bielan is working on behalf of Kaczyński in order to “destroy his political partner”.

The opposition MP also criticised the ruling camp for getting distracted by internal politics at a time when Poland should be focusing on the pandemic and rolling out coronavirus vaccines. However, he welcomed the fact that the dispute could force early parliamentary elections.

One of Wirtualna Polska’s anonymous inside sources also claimed that it is “90%” certain that “PiS is fuelling this rebellion; they want to divide us”. Talks have reportedly been continuing this evening over the future of the party and the ruling coalition, which has only a narrow parliamentary majority.

Agreement (previously known as Poland Together) and PiS have been in government together – along with United Poland (Soldiarna Polska), another junior coalition partner – since 2015. At the 2019 parliamentary elections, Agreement and United Poland strengthened their position by doubling their numbers of MPs at the expense of PiS.

Main image credit: M. Rzewuski/KPRM (under public domain)

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.