Warsaw correspondent
Getty ImagesPoland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk has won a vote of confidence in his pro-EU government after his political camp narrowly lost the recent presidential election.
Some 243 parliamentarians voted in favour of the coalition government, with 210 voting against and no abstentions.
This vote has been seen by some as a piece of political theatre on the part of Tusk – a way of showing his broad coalition still has a mandate despite the presidential election defeat.
Wednesday’s vote was also a formality. Tusk’s coalition has a 12-seat majority in the lower house, the Sejm, and only a simple majority in the presence of half the 460 parliamentarians was required to win.
Ahead of the vote, Tusk told the house that they could not “close their eyes” to the reality that his government faces “greater challenges” thanks to the election of Karol Nawrocki, who is supported by the Law and Justice (PiS) opposition.
Poland’s president can veto legislation and Nawrocki – a socially conservative supporter of US President Donald Trump who opposes a federal Europe and Ukraine’s entry to Nato and the EU – is expected to continue to use this power as the conservative incumbent, Andrzej Duda, has done during the first 18 months of Tusk’s term in office.
Tusk’s coalition lacks a big enough parliamentary majority to overturn a presidential veto. Nothing can be done about that, but a reconfirmation by parliament puts Tusk’s government on the front foot again, at least for now.
He has also announced a cabinet reshuffle would take place in July.
“I’m asking you for a vote of confidence because I have the conviction, faith and certainty that we have a mandate to govern, to take full responsibility for what is happening in Poland,” Tusk said.
“We are facing two and a half years, in difficult conditions, of full mobilisation and full responsibility.”
He referred to Polish tennis star Iga Swiatek’s recent unsuccessful attempt to win a fourth straight French Open title at Roland Garros, quoting the Frenchman’s famous quote: “Victory belongs to the most tenacious.”
The opposition in parliament would likely say that Tusk will ultimately be as unsuccessful as Iga Swiatek was at retaining his title. A promise as empty, indeed, as the PiS benches were during Tusk’s speech.
Tusk said his government had been more effective on issues that PiS prides itself on – increased defence spending and tougher on migration.
He argued Poland had returned to Europe’s top table, citing a recently signed bilateral treaty with France in which both countries declared they would come to each other’s mutual aid in the event of an attack.
At the end, he received a standing ovation from his own benches.
Issues close to the government’s small left-wing coalition partner were largely absent from the speech.
There was no mention of his campaign promise to give Polish women legal abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy.
That promise has got nowhere in the face of opposition from conservatives within the coalition and the knowledge that Duda would veto it.
His government has also made little headway, thanks to Duda’s vetoes, on another campaign promise – removing political influence from Polish courts – which caused the European Commission to take legal action against Poland and withhold EU funds.
Brussels released the funds after Tusk’s government promised to undo PiS’s judicial reform, causing PiS to accuse the Commission of double standards.
Tusk said that no-one was as keen as he was to end Poland’s legal chaos, but he knows that President-elect Nawrocki will likely continue to use the veto.
