Deputy Speaker of the Sejm Piotr Zgorzelski announced that two PSL MPs – Urszula Pasławska and Urszula Nowogórska – have decided to leave the Council of Parliamentarians to the President of the Republic of Poland. The immediate reason for their departure was President Karol Nawrocki’s veto of the bill on the legal status of a person’s closest partner.
The two PSL (PSL) lawmakers had joined the council, but have now decided to withdraw from it.
President Karol Nawrocki vetoed the government’s bill on the legal status of a person’s closest partner in a relationship and cohabitation agreement, along with the accompanying implementing legislation. “I cannot accept a solution that would lead to the loss of the special status of marriage,” the president explained. The vetoed legislation was the first law in the history of the Polish parliament to provide a legal framework for civil partnerships, including same-sex couples, and had been approved by both chambers of parliament controlled by the December 13 coalition.
Speaking on TVN24, Deputy Speaker of the Sejm Piotr Zgorzelski emphasized the commitment of the MPs who had worked on the legislation.
“It was two months of hard work, above all by two Polish parliamentarians: MP Urszula Pasławska and MP and Minister Katarzyna Kotula. They demonstrated the utmost goodwill, both in the Sejm and the Senate, as well as in their contacts – especially MP Urszula Pasławska’s discussions with the president,” the Deputy Speaker said.
He added that the purpose of those efforts was to eliminate any argument that parliament had failed to consult the Presidential Palace on the bill. Despite those efforts, Urszula Pasławska and Urszula Nowogórska have now demonstratively withdrawn from the president’s advisory council.
Announcing the decision, Zgorzelski did not hide his disappointment with the outcome of the legislative process. “The reserves of goodwill have been exhausted. We did not want to leave ourselves open to even the slightest accusation that we had failed to do something that could have served as grounds for claiming that the president would have signed the bill if only he had known,” the Deputy Speaker concluded.
The decision by the two MPs to leave the Council has prompted criticism pointing to what some see as inconsistency. PSL has long emphasized its traditional roots and values, which critics argue conflicts with its support for legislation introducing civil partnerships, including for same-sex couples, as well as with the symbolic decision to leave the president’s advisory body in response to his veto.