Female MPs from the Polish People’s Party (PSL) have received official approval from the party leadership to participate in the Council of Parliamentarians established by President Karol Nawrocki, the Niezależna.pl portal has learned. By contrast, MPs from the Civic Coalition (Koalicja Obywatelska) have received a categorical ban on cooperation with the president from their parliamentary caucus leadership. Talks are ongoing with politicians from Poland 2050 and the Left. The composition of the Council is expected to be expanded in the near future to include additional coalition politicians.
President Karol Nawrocki established the Council of Parliamentarians as an advisory body to support cooperation between the Presidential Palace and parliament. Its members include MPs from Law and Justice (PiS), the Confederation (Konfederacja), PSL, as well as an independent parliamentarian.
The Council of Parliamentarians to the President of the Republic of Poland is to serve as an advisory body supporting cooperation between the Presidential Palace and parliament. Its members include MPs from PiS, Konfederacja, PSL, and an independent parliamentarian.
The Council includes: Marcin Horała (PiS), Paulina Matysiak (independent), Urszula Nowogórska (PSL), Urszula Pasławska (PSL–Third Way), Grzegorz Płaczek (Konfederacja), Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk (PiS), and Witold Tumanowicz (Konfederacja). As it turns out, this is not the final composition of the body.
We have learned details about the formation of the Council of Parliamentarians. Negotiations have been underway since August and were held with all parliamentary caucuses. They were conducted by presidential ministers as well as PiS parliamentarians Marcin Horała and Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk.
Approval from PSL leadership, hesitation from Poland 2050
According to information obtained by Niezależna.pl, PSL parliamentarians Urszula Pasławska and Urszula Nowogórska hesitated for a long time but were consistently “rather in favor.” Ultimately, they obtained approval from the PSL caucus leadership. This approval was granted only this year; previously, they did not have it. Talks are ongoing with MPs from Poland 2050.
Several of them have expressed preliminary consent, but at present they are mainly preoccupied with their own internal matters. The caucus leadership considered giving approval but ultimately did not make any decision. It may succeed in the near future, claim politicians from the president’s circle.
Talks are also ongoing with the Left’s parliamentary caucus. As in the case of Poland 2050, the matter has not yet been concluded. A second round of recruitment can be expected in a few weeks, according to our sources.
Politicians from the Civic Coalition were also invited to join the Council of Parliamentarians.
Several MPs said outright that they had received a ban from the party leadership, even though they themselves claimed they did not fully agree with it, according to participants in the negotiations with whom we spoke.
The Role of the Council
Among other tasks, the Council is to review and propose legislative acts being worked on by the president and parliament.
President Karol Nawrocki emphasized that the Council’s guiding principle “is not to shape a community of views, but to conduct dialogue based on mutual respect,” and that he wants to “take into account the opinions of representatives of as broad a group of voters as possible,” which requires “talking with representatives of different milieus, people with different sensitivities, who express different views.”
President Nawrocki stated that he is convinced Poland “is not doomed to remain entrenched in the trenches of war between political camps, and that the geopolitical situation and the challenges facing our country require building agreements around key issues of Poland’s raison d’état.”
He added that the Presidential Palace “should be a place where such agreements are forged, especially among politicians of the younger and middle generations.”