Sudden firing of Polish minister shines light on rivalry in ruling party
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Loading... - Jake Martin
- 28 Mar 2022
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“It’s a farce,” a US official told me, commenting on the development minister’s firing. “Nowak has only just been at meetings with high-ranking officials, securing collaboration and contracts – and a moment later he’s out of the government.”
He was referring to yesterday’s sudden dismissal of Piotr Nowak, the development minister, after he stepped out of line by announcing that the EU funds would be unblocked. Yet the billions of euros at stake were only the ostensible reason for his removal.
Behind the political scenes, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s game was about maintaining influence and the balance of power. By removing Nowak, Morawiecki took away from his rival in government, deputy prime minister Jacek Sasin, his most promising ally.
Nowak earlier this month visited Washington for talks with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, including over a proposal for Poland to replace Russia in the G20. He had only been in his position for five months before being fired.
“I wonder what the Americans will think now about how serious Poland is in business negotiations?” asks the US official.
A strange dismissal indeed, but one that an attentive observer of the background of the personnel games played out in the United Right – Poland’s ruling coalition – could have foreseen for at least a month.
When Morawiecki said yesterday, in explaining Nowak’s dismissal, that “the form of cooperation” agreed with the minister had been “exhausted” at a press conference yesterday, that made this even clearer.
Although, as the prime minister’s staff confirm in behind-the-scenes conversations, the immediate reason for the dismissal was Nowak’s premature announcement of the European Commission’s agreeing to unlocking Poland’s Covid recovery funds, his relations with Morawiecki were frosty for many other reasons.
“The situation was difficult for a long time,” a senior government politician told me. “The prime minister would meet Minister Nowak at his chancellery and ask about the projects being implemented and send him emails. He also asked for solutions for Polish firms as part of the ‘anti-Putin shield’.”
“But there was not much activity recorded in this area. Especially when it came to meetings with industries threatened by the pandemic and war in Ukraine.”
These comments echo the main narrative repeated to journalists to explain the sudden sacking. A further element was Nowak’s frequent foreign trips, which apparently had “no concrete outcomes”. The minister was snidely dubbed a “traveller” who “has time for contracts with the United States on space cooperation, but “has no time for Polish steel suppliers”.
In fact, though, there is a much more interesting story behind the development minister’s dismissal than meets the eye. It is no secret that Nowak worked closely throughout with the Ministry of State Assets and its head, Jacek Sasin, who is also a deputy prime minister. Sasin, meanwhile, is regarded as Morawiecki’s tactical rival, overseeing state companies and, step by step, building his political independence. Read More…
