A long-awaited cabinet overhaul has been announced by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who is attempting to revitalise his coalition administration in the face of low support ratings and after its loss in the presidential election last month. Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak, who i...



A long-awaited cabinet overhaul has been announced by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who is attempting to revitalise his coalition administration in the face of low support ratings and after its loss in the presidential election last month.



Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak, who is still in control of the security services, and Justice Minister Adam Bodnar were sacked, among other significant changes.




Radosław Sikorski, the foreign minister, is one of the three deputy prime ministers that have been appointed.



Two new “super-ministries” covering the economy and energy have been established as part of a larger initiative to eliminate overlapping functions and shrink the size of the government.




The new ministers will be sworn in on Thursday, with the first meeting of the reshuffled cabinet set for Friday.



“There are times in every country’s history when it is necessary to recover from events that shake the political scene, stand firm on the ground, restrain emotions, and begin again with momentum and faith in one’s own strength.”



“These are frequently accompanied by necessary personnel changes,” Tusk stated ahead of the reshuffle.




In order to implement many of its promised reforms, such as increasing the tax-free income threshold, liberalising the abortion law, introducing same-sex civil partnerships, and reintroducing mortgage subsidies for first-time buyers, Tusk’s ruling coalition—a wide and occasionally shaky alliance spanning from left to center-right—has found it difficult to muster the necessary unity.





The major changes of the reshuffle include Tomasz Siemoniak of Tusk’s Civic Coalition (KO) being removed as interior minister. Siemoniak, who oversaw border and migration policy, will remain in the government as the security services minister.




He will now focus on combating “illegal immigration understood as hybrid warfare on the part of Russia and Belarus”, Tusk said, noting the importance of the tasks facing Siemoniak amid American reports pointing to “a direct threat from Russia [that] could materialise as early as 2027”.



The position of interior minister will return to Marcin Kierwiński, who briefly held the role after Tusk’s government took office in December 2023, before stepping down to run for the European Parliament. He later gave up his MEP seat to serve as the government’s plenipotentiary for flood reconstruction.




Foreign minister Radosław Sikorski, also from KO, has been appointed deputy prime minister while retaining his current role. He becomes the third deputy prime minister in the government, alongside Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, leader of the Polish People’s Party (PSL), and Krzysztof Gawkowski, deputy leader of The Left (Lewica).