Karol Nawrocki, a conservative
historian and supporter of Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, was
sworn in as Poland’s president on Wednesday, setting the stage
for conflict with the centrist government and potentially cooler
relations with Ukraine.
Nawrocki took the presidential oath in a ceremony in the
Polish parliament.
The election victory of Nawrocki, who was backed by the
nationalist opposition party Law and Justice (PiS), dealt a blow
to Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s hopes of cementing the
pro-European Union course he has set for the bloc’s largest
eastern member and left his government floundering in the polls.
Poland is now bracing for a continuation of the deadlock
seen under nationalist outgoing President Andrzej Duda, with
Nawrocki able to use his veto powers to stymie a government
agenda that includes rolling back judicial reforms implemented
by PiS, which critics said undermined the independence of the
courts.
Nawrocki also looks set to pose a headache for the
government by proposing measures such as tax cuts that are
likely to be popular with many voters but hard to implement for
an administration with a stretched budget.
“As prime minister, I have so far worked with three
presidents,” Tusk, who was also prime minister from 2007 to
2014, wrote in a post on X. “What will it be like with the
fourth? We’ll manage.”
MUCH UNCERTAINTY
The incoming president has said he does not currently see a
place for Ukraine in NATO or the EU, a marked shift in tone
compared to Duda.
As president, Nawrocki would be required to sign off on
Poland’s ratification of a new member joining NATO.
While Tusk has said that the European Union should play a
bigger role in defence matters alongside NATO, PiS and Nawrocki
have argued this would undermine Poland’s alliance with the
United States.
“The United States is undoubtedly our priority partner,”
said Nawrocki’s spokesman Rafal Leskiewicz.
However, the fact that the former head of the Institute of
National Remembrance is a political newcomer who was little
known to the public before PiS threw its weight behind him means
there is much uncertainty about how his presidency will pan out,
political observers say.
“I don’t know if he will, in short, fully implement the
policies of Law and Justice … or if he will try to come up
with his own initiatives,” said Andrzej Rychard, a sociologist
from the Polish Academy of Science.
Nawrocki emerged victorious from a tumultuous campaign in
which allegations regarding his past, including that he acquired
a second property from an elderly man in return for a promise of
care that he did not provide, frequently dominated the
headlines.
Nawrocki denied accusations of wrongdoing, although he
admitted to taking part in an organised fight between football
hooligans, adding to the tough-guy image the amateur boxer had
already sought to cultivate.
After the election, supporters of defeated liberal candidate
Rafal Trzaskowski filed thousands of protests to the Supreme
Court over irregularities at some polling stations. However, the
irregularities were not enough to materially alter the result.
PiS accuse their liberal opponents of trying to subvert the
will of the people and their supporters plan to march in the
capital on inauguration day.
“Whoever can – come to Warsaw … for the swearing-in of the
president,” PiS lawmaker Michal Wojcik wrote on X. “Let’s show<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Karol Nawrocki, a conservativehistorian and supporter of Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, wassworn in as Poland’s president on Wednesday, setting the stagefor conflict with the centrist government and potentially coolerrelations with Ukraine.Nawrocki took the presidential oath in a ceremony in thePolish parliament.The election victory of Nawrocki, who was backed by thenationalist opposition party Law and Justice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n