Published: 16:53, April 7, 2021 | Updated: 20:09, June 4, 2023
Kaczynski: Polish coalition may collapse over EU plan
By Bloomberg

Leader of ruling Law and Justice party Jaroslaw Kaczynski attends a session of the lower house of parliament, in Warsaw, May 6, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

Poland’s ruling coalition won’t finish its full term in power unless its three factions all agree to approve the European Union’s stimulus plan, the leader of the government-leading party said.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s Law & Justice Party is at odds with one of its partners over the EU’s 750 billion euro (US$890 billion) pandemic relief package.

Junior coalition member United Poland opposes the EU rescue package because its leader, Zbigniew Ziobro, says it allows the bloc to issue its own debt and it’s not in Poland’s interest to co-sign liabilities for countries with weaker economies.

With the coalition commanding only a slim majority in parliament, Kaczynski needs Ziobro’s votes to pass the package. But, in an interview published in the Gazeta Polska daily on Wednesday, Kaczynski also called for the pro-EU opposition to help approve the stimulus.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s Law & Justice Party is at odds with one of its partners over the EU’s 750 billion euro (US$890 billion) pandemic relief package

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Each EU country must prepare a plan to use the EU funds, which in Poland’s case amount to 58.1 billion euros, by the end of this month. Poland’s parliament meets on April 14.

Kaczynski said he didn’t rule out early elections next year -- a year before the government’s term ends -- but doesn’t think that will happen, the newspaper reported.

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His party has continually wrangled with United Poland and the other coalition party, Porozumienie, over Poland’s approach to the EU, taxes, and last year’s pandemic-delayed presidential election.

Porozumienie’s leader, Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Gowin, said Wednesday that a snap vote next year is possible if the coalition can’t reach an agreement on it’s various areas of dispute.