Polish Prime Minister resigns

Although the Polish Prime Minister has resigned, the Party leadership still wants her to hold an important position in the Government.

Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo submitted her resignation to the leadership of the ruling Law and Justice Party at a meeting on the evening of December 7 (local time) and her resignation was accepted. The party leadership also nominated Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to be the new Prime Minister of Poland.

Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo. (Photo: AP).

Ms Szydlo's decision to resign came after weeks of speculation in the domestic media that she would leave the prime minister's post despite her government still enjoying popular support.

On her personal account after submitting her resignation, Ms. Szydlo thanked the people for supporting her Government during the past 2 years in power, striving for the position of Poland and the Polish people.

Law and Justice Party spokeswoman Beata Mazurek said that although Szydlo had resigned, the party leadership still wanted her to hold an important position in the government, but the spokeswoman declined to provide further information.

Earlier in the morning, Ms. Szydlo's government easily overcame a vote of no confidence in the House of Representatives proposed by the opposition Civic Forum Party.

At the meeting, the leadership of the ruling Law and Justice Party also proposed Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to replace Ms. Szydlo as Prime Minister. Mr. Morawiecki received 33 votes in favor, 2 votes against and 1 abstention.

Mr Morawiecki, 49, is a former chairman of one of Poland’s largest banks and a graduate of management, European law and economics. He served as economic adviser to former Prime Minister Donald Tusk from 2010 to 2014. He also wrote Poland’s ambitious economic development plan, which was adopted by the government in 2016.

It is expected that on December 8, President Andrzej Duda will accept the resignation of the Cabinet of Ms. Beata Szydło, and at the same time assign the mission of forming a new Government to Mr. Morawiecki.

Next Monday, the new Prime Minister and Cabinet, which is expected to be mostly the same ministers, will be sworn in in the presence of the President. A day later, Mr. Morawiecki will deliver a speech on the new Government's action program in the House of Representatives, and the House of Representatives will conduct a vote of confidence in the new Government./.

According to VOV