Law and Justice (PiS) leader Jarosław Kaczyński has taken aim at Poland’s former prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki, reportedly due to his rising popularity.
Morawiecki, PiS vice president and president of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) in the European Parliament, once ruled the Lower Silesian structures of Law and Justice, along with MEP Michał Dworczyk. Now, PiS head Kaczyński has decided to expel seven councilors from the Lower Silesian Voivodeship Assembly and suspend their party membership rights.
All seven were closely linked with Morawiecki and Dworczyk’s former faction. According to Onet, this decision is “the beginning of Mateusz’s expulsion from PiS.”
Onet learned from one politician that Morawiecki “meets with MPs whose names are almost unknown, but in doing so, he gathers new people around him.”
“It’s about who will take over the PiS party and have a chance at becoming the next prime minister. Mateusz has been under fire for some time now: He’s not invited to internal party meetings, and the chairman no longer looks at him as uncritically as he once did,” a PiS parliamentary politician told Onet.
Local media reported, according to Do Rzeczy, that the changes were prompted by friction within the PiS caucus and the attitudes of some councilors toward decisions by the party’s regional authorities. This reported split in the Lower Silesian PiS party coincided with Jarosław Kaczyński’s visit to Wrocław. The PiS leader visited the Lower Silesian capital on Monday as part of a series of meetings with voters called “Poland Won.”
Asked about the conflict on Radip ZET, former Minister of Digital Affairs Janusz Cieszyński noted that there are currently two factions in the Sejm: that of former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and that of former Speaker of the Sejm Elżbieta Witek.
“We’re in a situation today where if we split internally, only one person will be happy about it – Donald Tusk, who will thus postpone the moment when his incompetent government will be toppled.”
“In my opinion, this is being said by people who live in Warsaw and see that Mateusz Morawiecki has been doing very well in politics lately, and the goal is to weaken his position,” said Cieszyński.
“I think Mateusz Morawiecki would be an excellent prime minister. He’s proven this over six years in this position. However, Law and Justice – and that’s our strength – has many faces. And that’s a good thing. There are no parties that can be led by just one person,” he added.
