This Friday, the Sejm will vote on the matter of lifting the immunity and approving the detention of Zbigniew Ziobro, former Minister of Justice. How will the Confederation (Konfederacja) vote regarding the Law and Justice (PiS) MP?
Tomorrow (Thursday), the Sejm’s Committee on Rules, Deputies’ Affairs, and Immunities will debate the National Prosecutor’s Office’s motion to lift the parliamentary immunity of MP Zbigniew Ziobro, as well as to grant consent for his detention and temporary arrest. The following day (Friday), in the afternoon, most likely between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. (Warsaw time), the Sejm will hold a vote on this matter.
The case, of course, concerns the motion submitted by the current Minister of Justice, Waldemar Żurek, to the Speaker of the Sejm, Szymon Hołownia, requesting that the former minister be held accountable – essentially, another episode of “settling accounts with predecessors.”
Nevertheless, the prosecutor’s office under Żurek’s leadership seems so impatient that it reportedly does not intend to wait for the outcome of Friday’s vote. According to information obtained by the portal Niezalezna.pl, Ziobro, who is currently abroad, is to be detained immediately upon his return, most likely right after landing on Polish soil.
If that were indeed to happen, it would constitute a violation of the law, as an MP cannot be detained without the Sejm’s consent. Yet, Tusk and Żurek’s team appear to have prepared for that scenario as well. How? They reportedly intend to invoke the concept of a “state of necessity” and the alleged risk of the PiS politician fleeing the country.
How Will Confederation Vote?
In this matter, political differences will likely be set aside. Thus, Przemysław Wipler, a Confederation MP, was asked on TVN24 how he and his faction intend to vote. His answer suggested a show of unity among the right wing.
“If we are faced with a situation where we must vote, in a single motion, on 26 charges, some of which are worth considering and others are absurd, and even people who are critical of Zbigniew Ziobro have pointed out in their analyses and in the media that certain allegations are inflated and unsustainable, if we are forced to vote on all 26 different accusations as one package, then I will vote against lifting the immunity. Especially since it should not be the case that immunity protects only members of the ruling coalition, while opposition MPs are stripped of it,”
he said.
He added:
“I am deeply convinced that the overwhelming majority of our parliamentary group, if not all of it, will vote that way, for the reasons I have mentioned. Likewise, we will obviously vote against authorizing his arrest.”