The leaders of Poland’s United Right coalition, Jarosław Kaczyński, Jarosław Gowin and Zbigniew Ziobro, met on Sunday evening, with the three indicating that the talks were a success and the government coalition remains stable as a result.
“Following this meeting, all sides of the coalition are expressing conviction towards the positive effects of the United Right’s work since the double election victory in 2015 and showed good will to the idea of a program agreement for 2021-2023,” Law and Justice party (PiS) MP Krzysztof Sobolewski announced on social media.
1/2 Po spotkaniu przywódców #ZjedniczonaPrawica wszystkie strony wyrażają przekonanie co do pozytywnych skutków działań #ZjednoczonaPrawica od czasu podwójnego sukcesu wyborczego w 2015r. i wolę zawarcia porozumienia programowego na lata 2021-2023. #JedziemyDalej pic.twitter.com/6hqpD4sKnz
— Krzysztof Sobolewski ??100PL?? (@AC_Sobol) April 25, 2021
In recent months, the Polish ruling camp was bursting at the seams due to serious disagreement between coalition partners in key issues.
One of the most contentious issues last year was a dispute about 2020 presidential elections being conducted with mail-in voting, then there was the attempt to take over influence in Jarosław Gowin’s Agreement by pro-PiS MEP Adam Bielan, and finally, the recently outspoken criticism of the European Union’s Recovery Fund by Zbigniew Ziobro’s Solidarity Poland. Ziobro believes that Poland is losing sovreignty by accepting the funds and potentially will be on the hook to pay off the debts of Southern European countries in the future.
There is also no unanimity within the United Right when it comes to the issue of energy transformation and the proposed strategy to step away from coal-based energy. Moreover, Solidarity Poland demanded public explanations from Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Gliński as to how he had distributed public funds to support Polish artists.
Jarosław Kaczyński believes that the billions from the EU must reach Poland in the post-pandemic period to revive the country’s economy. If the coalition does not vote in favor of those funds in June, then early elections become a likely possibility.
It is important to note, however, that the Sunday’s declaration of cooperation and the likely acceptance of a new coalition agreement for 2021-2023 does not determine whether Agreement and Solidarity Poland politicians will run from PiS’s election lists in the future.
Title image: The leaders of the United Right coalition: (from the right side) Jarosław Kaczyński (PiS – Law and Justice), Jarosław Gowin (Agreement Party) and Zbigniew Ziobro (Solidarity Poland), source: Twitter, @pisorg
