President Andrzej Duda faces a difficult decision whether to pardon once again two sentenced MPs, who were sentenced for their abuse of power in previous posts, a decision that could seriously undermine any chance of successful cooperation with the new government.
In 2015, weeks after the conservative Law and Justice (PiS, ECR) party came to power, President Andrzej Duda issued a pardon to MPs Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik. The pardon allowed both politicians to join the PiS government.
Lawyers questioned the president’s pardon as it was issued before a court issued a final ruling in his case. The opposition argued that the decision by Duda, a former PiS member, was political.
Following last October’s elections, PiS was replaced by a wide coalition of centrist and leftist parties (EPP/S&D/Renew/Left) led by now-Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Then, Kamiński and Wąsik were sentenced to two years in prison.
Following the final court decision, new parliamentary speaker Szymon Hołownia (Poland 2050, Renew) ordered Kamiński and Wąsik’s MP mandates revoked and deprived them of parliamentary immunity.
Prison or (another) pardon
On Monday, the Warsaw-Śródmieście District Court decided not to accept applications for refusal to initiate enforcement proceedings against Kamiński and Wąsik. It also rejected the requests of the prosecutor’s office and defence lawyers.
To save the two lawmakers from prison, Duda could pardon them again – though this would mean admitting that the first pardon was ineffective.
Even if the president pardons Kamiński and Wąsik, this does not mean they may return to their parliamentary job, Hołownia told Tuesday’s press briefing.
Hołownia met Duda the day before to discuss further steps regarding the sentenced ex-ministers. Still, the meeting left both sides committed to their positions, with the president sharing the lawmakers’ view that they were revoked from the parliament illegally, Hołownia said.
“I told him (Duda) that should Kamiński and Wąsik remain MPs, the doubts would emerge from the other side,” he added.
Duda received Kamiński and Wąsik in the Presidential Palace on Tuesday, a step that Hołownia said is not surprising but will be difficult to explain.
“If the two gentlemen, instead of prisoners of the prison in Białołęka (Warsaw’s district), become prisoners of the Presidential Palace, we will be dealing with a new situation,” he said
“From the president’s perspective, the Palace will then become an asylum and shelter, but from the perspective of a significant part of society, it will become a penitentiary,” he added.
On Tuesday evening, the police entered the Presidential Palace and arrested Kamiński and Wąsik. The arrest resulted from the court’s order, as confirmed by Warsaw’s police.
“Everyone is equal before the law,” Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński wrote on the X platform, commenting on the arrest.
Duda vs Tusk’s cabinet
Duda is a former PiS member who ran for the presidency twice as a PiS candidate. During PiS’s rule, he was often accused by the opposition of favouring the government’s policies and helping the cabinet pass even the most controversial bills.
But things are now very different with Tusk’s camp coming to power.
Already in the first days of the new government, Duda made it clear that cooperation between him and Team Tusk would not be easy.
For instance, he condemned the government’s public media policies that resulted in the sudden replacement of public broadcaster management without passing any bills.
“Mr President has a problem with the new parliamentary majority,” Hołownia said at the conference.
Parliamentary sitting postponed
On Tuesday, Hołownia announced he would postpone the parliamentary sitting until next week to avoid an escalation and let the emotions among the parliamentarians calm down.
“My task is to ensure the dignity of the Sejm and social peace,” he insisted.
He added that “the situation of deep crisis” does not guarantee that the Sejm will proceed peacefully this week.
Tusk and the whole ruling majority supported Hołownia’s decision.
“Mr Speaker wants to avoid an escalation of tension and a probable brawl (…), and he can count on the support of mine and other leaders of the ruling coalition,” Tusk told a press conference.
PiS members had a different view, with former Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak accusing Hołownia of “cowardice” and “fear of the citizen’s opposition”.
(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)
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