Polish President Andrzej Duda announced a major cabinet reshuffle on Thursday, recalling Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Henryk Kowalczyk and appointing him Deputy Prime Minister.
In his place, Robert Telus was named the new Agriculture Minister at a special ceremony held at the Presidential Palace.
Telus, a member of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, has been appointed to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s council of political advisers for 2021. He is also the head of the Sejm, the lower house of parliament’s agriculture committee.
On Wednesday, Polish Minister of Agriculture Henryk Kowalczyk resigned following protests from local farmers over the influx of Ukrainian grain. The Ukrainian grain, which is cheaper than Polish grain, is being purchased by companies in Poland instead of being exported to a third country, thus filling up the silos and leaving Polish farmers with an inability to sell their grain.
“I have tendered my resignation from the function of minister of agriculture and rural development seeing that the basic demand of farmers will not be met by the European Commission (EC),”
Kowalczyk said.
In October 2021, the European Commission (EC) unveiled plans to extend the excise-free and quota-free import of Ukrainian grain until June 2024, with Agriculture Minister Kowalczyk explaining the decision.
President appoints digitalisation minister
Polish President Andrzej Duda has appointed Janusz Cieszyński to serve as the nation’s new Minister of Digitalisation. Cieszyński is set to take over the role from prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
Janusz Cieszyński, Secretary of State at the Prime Minister’s Office and Government Cybersecurity Commissioner is a key figure in the fight to protect Poland’s digital infrastructure.
In 2018-2020, he served as the deputy health minister, taking on the task of modernising the healthcare sector through computerisation.