WARSAW — There’s nothing like the danger of war from a historic enemy to paper over political divides. That’s what’s happening in Poland, as usually squabbling politicians struck an unusual note of unity and solidarity in response to at least 19 Russian drones breaching Polish airspace early Wednesday. Polish President Karol Nawrocki and Prime Minister Donald Tusk are often at odds, with the right-wing president attempting to undermine the centrist prime minister in a heated political battle that is destabilizing the country’s foreign policy and sounding warning bells about its public finances. But all was harmony and patriotism in Warsaw on Wednesday … at least for the first hours following Polish and Dutch warplanes shooting down several drones. Nawrocki told a morning press conference that he met Tusk at the Polish military’s headquarters, where both were briefed on the incursion. The two leaders also discussed invoking NATO’s Article 4, which calls on alliance members to consult in the event that “the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened.” (This was ultimately done.) Tusk messaged the parliament in a similar vein a few hours later, saying there was “full cooperation” between the president’s office and his government. “I want to stress as strongly as possible that cooperation between the institutions is exemplary. I am in constant contact, including with the president,” Tusk said. “It’s crucial that in such moments of trial all institutions act as one fist. And I must assure you with full conviction that all of them are passing this test,” the PM added. It was a striking change in tone. Tusk and Nawrocki have locked horns on an almost daily basis since the latter took office in early August. The prime minister has accused the president of scheming to derail the government’s reform agenda to better position his Law and Justice (PiS) party ahead of the next general election in 2027. Nawrocki has vetoed some key pieces of legislation from the Tusk-led ruling coalition. They’ve also been at loggerheads over foreign policy, especially over Nawrocki’s recent visit to the White House to visit his political ally, Donald Trump. But the Polish military firing its first shots in anger at a foreign invader into its territory since 1945 changed the mood music. Trump reportedly planned to speak with Nawrocki later on Wednesday, and posted on social media: “What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!” Squabbling politicians struck an unusual note of unity and solidarity in response to at least 19 Russian drones breaching Polish airspace early Wednesday. | Aleksander Kalka/Getty Images Mateusz Morawiecki, a former PiS prime minister and normally a fierce foe of Tusk, posted: “In times like these, loyalty, solidarity, and responsibility are what matter. Together, we can do it. We will defeat the enemy,” he said, underlining that, “There is one enemy and that enemy is external.” Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, who usually revels in attacking PiS, posted: “Let’s stay calm, let’s unite.” FRENEMIES But even in the first hours, cracks started to appear in that political unity. Mariusz Błaszczak, a former PiS defense minister, grumbled that Tusk’s defense ministry was cutting back on some of the contracts agreed under the previous PiS government. “Enough talk, we just need to implement the contracts that we prepared when Law and Justice was in power,” he said. PiS Chairman Jarosław Kaczyński underlined the danger of the moment, warning: “We are facing an attack on Poland.” But he skipped Tusk’s address to parliament and lambasted the government for “slowing down” reforms in the army. Other long-held grievances were still there. Kaczyński lashed out at those who oppose his marches on the 10th of every month to commemorate the April 10, 2010 air disaster that killed his twin brother, President Lech Kaczyński — something that his supporters blame with no evidence on Tusk and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. “They are even more brazen than usual,” Kaczyński complained. Sławomir Mentzen of the opposition far-right Confederation party, which is the least pro-Ukrainian major grouping in Poland, went further in criticizing both the current Tusk government and past PiS administrations, saying Poland “slept through” the drone revolution on the battlefield that is evident in Ukraine’s war against Russia, a point some military experts in Poland have raised as well. “We are absolutely not ready for this conflict. We have spent tens of billions of dollars for arms that won’t be here only a few years from now and once we have it, what use is it going to be, Mentzen said.

WARSAW — Poland’s stint at the top table of European foreign policy lasted only about a year and half; now it’s being derailed by open political warfare between the country’s president and prime minister. Poland was absent from the White House crisis meeting that saw top European leaders rush to Washington to protect Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy from Donald Trump. An earlier effort to revive the Weimar Triangle of Poland, Germany and France is fading as Paris and Berlin warm ties on their own, and Poland’s status as one of Kyiv’s most important allies is being undercut by political battles over Ukrainian refugees. Those internal divisions will be on full display on Wednesday, when newly elected right-wing President Karol Nawrocki will be at the White House to visit his political ally Trump, who openly campaigned for him during the Polish presidential election earlier this year. That’s dismaying pro-EU Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who sent a nitpicking message to Nawrocki, reminding him that under the Polish constitution it’s the government led by the prime minister that sets Polish foreign policy. “It will probably take some time for the president’s office to get up to speed, to fully understand the rules of the game and the consequences of the constitutional provisions. I will patiently explain and inform them what such cooperation should look like,” needled Tusk. NO LOVE LOST The visit is turning into a power play between the two politicians — whose distaste for each other is unconcealed. Nawrocki’s office reacted with disdain on getting instructions from the foreign ministry on the goals of the U.S. visit. Rafał Leśkiewicz, Nawrocki’s spokesperson, called them a “joke” printed out on a single sheet of paper. The foreign ministry fired back that it was, “in fact the position of the Polish government, which is by nature concise.” “The government’s approach is reductionist. They see the president as merely putting a face to policy or acting as a spokesperson, reading prepared instructions,” Radosław Fogiel, an MP for the populist Law and Justice (PiS) party that backs Nawrocki, told POLITICO. “Representing the country means something broader. The president, as the state’s representative, cannot be limited to a government spokesperson role,” said Fogiel, who is deputy chair of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee.  On Wednesday, newly elected right-wing President Karol Nawrocki will be at the White House. | Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images But the government is adamant that Tusk holds the reins. “The president represents Poland but presents the position of the state, which is the position of the government, even if he disagrees with it,” foreign ministry spokesperson Paweł Wroński told Polish media, adding: “There cannot be two foreign policies for one state.” FIGHTING FOR POWER The battle is part of a broader war over who rules Poland. Tusk leads a centrist coalition that took power in December 2023 after ousting the PiS government that had been in charge for eight years. Nawrocki was backed by PiS, and his victory in June, plus Trump’s return to the White House, derailed Tusk’s hopes of bringing Poland fully back into the EU mainstream. Tusk did have success in unblocking billions in EU cash that had been frozen by Brussels over worries that the previous PiS government was politicizing the courts and undermining the rule of law. His government was also welcomed back at the bloc’s top table — boosted by Poland’s rapidly growing military and defense budget as well as its stellar economic performance. Now he’s embroiled in a guerrilla war with Nawrocki, who is using his national mandate to try and carve out a bigger role for himself, both at home and abroad. In his first few weeks in office, Nawrocki vetoed a flurry of government-backed legislation. During a stormy meeting last week between Nawrocki and Tusk’s Cabinet, the president tried to get involved in the details of a project to build an airport in central Poland, berated the finance minister and called on the government to update its program to include his own campaign promises. While Nawrocki won’t have an easy time upending Tusk domestically, he does have more latitude outside the country. The trip to Washington will be Nawrocki’s first foreign visit — a sign of the importance of the U.S. to Poland and also of the political ties between the Polish and U.S. presidents. Nawrocki and Trump will hold “bilateral discussions, not only about Ukraine but also about Poland’s security. We must focus on threats to Poland, because there are plenty of them. That does not mean we will not talk about Ukraine’s future, because Poland cannot be left out of that discussion,” Nawrocki’s foreign policy aide Marcin Przydacz said earlier this week. Tusk and Nawrocki are set to meet one-on-one ahead of the trip to Washington; the alliance with the U.S. is seen as crucial to Poland’s security by all sides in the deeply divided country. TARGETING UKRAINIANS Poland’s fierce domestic political infighting is also straining Warsaw’s relations with Kyiv. The government’s competing against Nawrocki on who’s tougher against immigrants — including Ukrainians who fled to Poland after Russia’s attack. Nawrocki last week vetoed a government-sponsored bill extending help for Ukrainians in Poland, arguing it would put Ukrainians ahead of Poles in accessing health care and the 800-złoty (€188) monthly child benefit. The vetoed bill also put in question further financing by Poland of Ukraine’s access to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet. “This is the end of Starlink internet, which Poland provides to Ukraine,” Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski wrote on social platform X. “Mr. President, you must stop blindly attacking the government in the name of a political battle. You are hurting people who are fighting for their independence and at the same time helping Russia,” he added. Nawrocki’s office stressed Poland’s stance on supporting Ukraine’s defense is unchanged. He has now submitted his own bill on aid to Ukrainians in Poland, which, he said, could restore Starlink financing if the parliament — controlled by a majority fiercely opposed to Nawrocki — passes it. The government said it’s submitting its own proposal to restore Starlink financing for Ukraine ahead of the next parliamentary session, due Sept. 9-12.

Former Polish Health Minister Adam Niedzielski was hospitalized on Wednesday after being assaulted in the eastern city of Siedlce, in what authorities say was an attack linked to his role in shaping the country’s pandemic policies. “A few hours ago, I was the victim of a brutal attack,” Niedzielski said after the assault. “I was beaten by two men shouting: ‘Death to traitors to the homeland.’ I got punched in the face and then kicked while lying on the ground. The whole incident lasted several seconds, and then the perpetrators fled,” he added. Police confirmed late Wednesday that two men in their 30s were detained in connection with the incident. The suspects are expected to be questioned on Thursday. Authorities said more details about the suspects and the circumstances of the attack would be released after questioning concludes. The assault took place outside a restaurant in central Siedlce, the police said. Witnesses reported that the attackers loudly criticized the government’s Covid-era decisions before physically confronting the former health minister. Following the assault, Niedzielski was briefly admitted to the Provincial Hospital in Siedlce and discharged the same day with no serious injuries. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk condemned the attack Wednesday evening, vowing that the perpetrators would go to jail. “No mercy,” he said. Niedzielski, who led the health ministry from 2020 to 2023, was a central figure in implementing restrictions and vaccination campaigns that remain divisive among parts of the public. Commenting on the attack on Wednesday, Niedzielski said it was “the result of tolerating hate speech,” but also of the decision of Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński of depriving him of protection, “despite numerous threats” he had previously received. “I hope that this situation will cause reflections on all sides of the political scene that we are already on a slippery slope. Passivity will only condemn us to further escalation,” Niedzielski said.

WARSAW — Poland’s new President Karol Nawrocki was sworn in Wednesday morning in what his chief political rival, Prime Minister Donald Tusk, called a “sad day.” Nawrocki, backed by the populist Law and Justice (PiS) party that ruled Poland from 2015 to 2023, slammed Tusk’s centrist government in his inaugural speech: “It is impossible to continue governing in this manner, and Poland should not look like it does today.” Nawrocki is expected to stall Tusk’s reform agenda until the next parliamentary election set for 2027, meaning the Poland is likely to see two years of political conflict and deadlock. Poland’s president has a national mandate and can propose and veto legislation (which Tusk’s coalition doesn’t have the votes to override), but the country’s domestic and foreign policies are largely under the control of the government run by the prime minister. PiS legislators clapped and chanted Nawrocki’s name during the speech, while Tusk and members of his Cabinet looked on solemnly. “I want to speak to all Poles for whom today is a sad and disappointing day. I know very well how you feel. I understand you,” Tusk said in a video published just minutes before Nawrocki’s inauguration. “We all believed that honesty, goodness, and love would prevail. What has happened puts our faith to a serious test.” Nawrocki also referenced the bitter election campaign, where he was dogged by scandals ranging from a football hooligan past to a property deal that triggered a criminal probe and accusations (which he denies) that he provided prostitutes to hotel guests while working as a security guard. He said he won “in spite of electoral propaganda and lies. In spite of political theater and in spite of the contempt,” something he said he would “forgive as a Christian.” The new president laid out his agenda until the end of his five-year term, and there are many areas that will clash with Tusk’s priorities. Nawrocki said he would block Poland’s accession to the euro, something the country is committed to as an EU member and which the government has been fitfully moving toward. “I will, of course, support relations within the European Union, but I will never agree to the European Union taking away Poland’s powers, especially in matters that are not enshrined in the European treaties,” he said. He also vowed that “Poland must return to the path of the rule of law.” That’s a jab at the Tusk’s government’s halting effort to restore judicial independence and removing judges accused of being improperly nominated under PiS — something made more difficult by resistance from outgoing PiS-aligned President Andrzej Duda. Nawrocki promised to continue defending the legal system created under PiS. “I will not promote or nominate judges who undermine the constitutional and legal order of the Republic of Poland,” Nawrocki said. Tusk has tried to speed up a revamp of the judicial system under new Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek, who has already begun driving out judges whose nominations are seen as improper. In another poke at Tusk, Nawrocki indicated one of his first initiatives would concern a project to build a massive new airport in central Poland. It was one of the flagship policies of the past PiS government but has been thoroughly revised under the new government. Nawrocki also restated some key pledges from his campaign, including opposing illegal immigration and ruling out any increase in the retirement age, while calling for a plan to step up housing construction, a nod to the parliamentary left within Tusk’s increasingly fragile ruling coalition. The one area where Nawrocki is likely to see eye-to-eye with Tusk is defense. Poland has the highest military budget of any NATO country as a percentage of the economy, is a key ally of the United States and is crucial in efforts to supply weapons to Ukraine. Nawrocki pledged to “support all efforts to modernize the Polish army to make it the largest NATO land force within the European Union.” He also promised to “engage closely with the U.S.” and “lead in building a resilient and responsible security architecture on NATO’s eastern flank.”

WARSAW — Karol Nawrocki is being sworn in Wednesday for a five-year term as Poland’s president, but it’s not going to be a happy day for Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. June’s narrow electoral victory by Nawrocki — a nationalist openly allied with Donald Trump — delivered a massive body blow to the political prospects of the ruling coalition led by pro-EU centrist Tusk. That threatens to stall the legislative agenda of the EU’s fifth-largest country and to slow a push to restore rule of law that led to a breakdown of relations between Warsaw and Brussels. But there are efforts to find common cause between Nawrocki and the centrists in areas like defense — where everyone can agree Russia is the enemy. “The right-wing opposition candidate’s presidential election victory has radically changed Poland’s political dynamics, scuppering the liberal-centrist coalition government’s plans to reset its reform agenda,” wrote Aleks Szczerbiak, a professor at the University of Sussex who studies Polish politics. Nawrocki succeeds Andrzej Duda, also supported by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, and who has slow-walked Tusk’s agenda. Nawrocki promises to be even more aggressive in hopes of painting the government as being ineffective and paving the way for PiS to return to power in 2027, the next general election. Ben Stanley, a political scientist at the SWPS University in Warsaw, predicted that Poland faces a two-year tug-of-war between Nawrocki and Tusk. DARK CLOUDS Everything looks set for a stormy showdown. A recent reshuffle of the Cabinet elevated anti-PiS hawks to government positions, signaling Tusk’s willingness to take on Nawrocki. The new Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek, a former judge persecuted by PiS for his opposition to judiciary reforms, has already started driving out judges promoted by PiS.  “It’s just a warm-up,” Tusk quipped on social media, reacting to the outrage coming from the PiS camp.  Nawrocki has called Tusk, “the worst prime minister since 1989,” referring to the year when Communism fell. One key area that is likely to see clashes is Tusk’s continuing effort to roll back changes to the judicial system imposed by the previous PiS government that led to Brussels freezing billions in EU funds over concerns about backsliding on rule of law. Karol Nawrocki has called Donald Tusk, “the worst prime minister since 1989,” referring to the year when Communism fell. | Pawel Supernak/EPA Tusk got the money back on promises to restore democratic norms. He has, however, made little progress in returning judicial independence and removing judges accused of being improperly nominated, thanks to the slowness of his government and resistance from Duda. Nawrocki will likely continue to block such changes. “The government will find it extremely difficult to unravel its Law and Justice predecessor’s judicial reforms,” wrote Szczerbiak. There are already warnings from Brussels. “It’s important for the institutions to continue to follow up on the reforms for veritable separation of power,” said Ana Catarina Mendes, the vice chair of the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament who led on a report last year on rule of law in Poland. Nawrocki, who is able to propose legislation as president, has promised to push through popular measures like doubling the amount of tax-free income for individuals — an idea abandoned by the Tusk government over deficit worries. “Nawrocki will definitely want to put the government in a difficult position by presenting proposals aligned with the government’s earlier promises or policy goals, which the government has failed to deliver,” Stanley said. Nawrocki has pledged to tour Poland to promote his tax ideas, such as no tax for families with two or more children, lowering the VAT rate and other tax cuts that would sap the budget of tens of billions. Tusk has already fired back, saying last week: “I will not allow Mr Nawrocki, once he’s sworn in as president, to politically sabotage the government.”  Nawrocki has also promised to veto any laws that “change the shape of national identity, or surrender Poland’s sovereignty to authorities outside the Republic” — a jab at the EU, immigration policy and at issues like changing abortion laws and giving more rights to LGBTQ+ people. Tusk said: “I know the constitution by heart, especially the parts that spell out the responsibilities of the president and of the government: the president is the representative of the Polish state. The government conducts domestic and foreign policy.” LOOKING FOR COMMON GROUND But the two men do recognize that they will have to work together. In their first meeting after the election, Tusk brought up the issue of national defense and continued military support for Ukraine — issues that straddle Poland’s deep political divide. “I will seek to make security a unifying issue for all Poles,” Karol Nawrocki told Defence24, a news website, in June. | Artur Reszko/EPA “We both realize that it is in the best interest of everyone in Poland that state institutions, whether they like each other or not, must cooperate on key issues,” Tusk said in June. Nawrocki has also said that Poles “expect the president and prime minister to talk and cooperate on issues that are important to our national community.” “I will seek to make security a unifying issue for all Poles,” Nawrocki told Defence24, a news website, in June. The new president said he would like to forge an agreement between his office, the government, and the parliament to “define defense funding levels, the main directions for developing Poland’s security and defense system, as well as related capabilities and legal regulations.” But those words don’t disguise the coming clash. Tusk’s increasingly inchoate coalition is likely to ramp up its work on stalled legislation ranging from easing access to abortion through undoing PiS’s legacy in the judiciary, to holding PiS’s top brass to account for alleged crimes.  The idea would be to show that progress is being blocked by the new president. The government may decide “that it has no choice but to go for a full-frontal confrontation with Mr Nawrocki hoping that he will over-reach so that it can blame its shortcomings on presidential obstruction,” said Szczerbiak. That will leave voters in 2027 with a conundrum — back Tusk’s coalition and continue the confrontation at least until the end of Nawrocki’s first term in 2030 or allow for unified right-wing government and president. “The next election essentially will hinge around the question of whether it’s better to have a government with a president that can facilitate it, or whether it’s better to ensure that we don’t have a return to 2015-2023, where both sides of the executive were essentially complicit in democratic backsliding,” said Stanley, referring to PiS’s previous term in power. That means one of the EU’s fastest-growing economies, a close friend of the United States with the highest percentage levels of defense spending in NATO and a crucial ally in helping keep Ukraine in the fight against Russia, faces years of drift. Max Griera contributed reporting from Brussels.

WARSAW — Karol Nawrocki, a historian and amateur boxer aligned with U.S. President Donald Trump, will be inaugurated as Polish president on Wednesday amid a hubbub over his football hooligan past and a property deal that triggered a criminal probe. While the presidency will grant the nationalist politician immunity from prosecution, that has hardly quelled the noise surrounding a series of sometimes surreal scandals that bubbled to the surface in the run-up to the June 1 election, which Nawrocki won with 50.98 percent of the vote. The controversies range from his bizarre use of a crime writer alter ego to lavish praise upon himself to far more serious allegations of involvement with gangsters and prostitution at a luxury hotel on the Baltic Sea. Former President Lech Wałęsa, a Nobel-laureate dissident who led the Solidarity movement that toppled Communist rule, said he was refusing to attend the “disgraceful spectacle” of Nawrocki’s inauguration. Here’s a recap of the most contentious past activities that are likely to dog the new president of Poland, a NATO heavyweight and the EU’s fifth most populous country. APARTMENT INVESTIGATION Prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into whether an elderly man — identified only as Jerzy Ż — was swindled between 2012 and 2017 into transferring ownership of his apartment in the northern city of Gdańsk. The prosecutors do not directly name Nawrocki but are probing the circumstances of his acquisition of the property. The apartment probe follows three formal complaints, including one from Gdańsk Mayor Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, who hails from the liberal and pro-EU Civic Coalition party of Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The probe centers on whether Jerzy Ż was deceived into “unfavorably” transferring ownership of property worth €28,000 in exchange for promises of “care and assistance in everyday life.” Fraud carries a penalty of six months to eight years in prison but Nawrocki is in no immediate danger. As head of state, he is answerable only to the State Tribunal, a special court for top officials, putting him beyond the reach of ordinary criminal courts during his five-year term. After that, he could once again face legal action, though much will depend on whether he stands for a second term. Nawrocki insists he did nothing wrong and acted only out of good intentions toward Jerzy Ż. “I have numerous witnesses who can attest that I offered assistance to Mr. Jerzy—providing him with financial support and running errands on his behalf. During my foreign trips, it was my colleagues and associates who ensured he continued to receive my support,” Nawrocki said in an interview with Wirtualna Polska, a major news website. “Looking you squarely in the eye as president-elect, I can say: ‘I have nothing to be ashamed of,’” Nawrocki added. The case has only been made more turbid by a report in the Gazeta Wyborcza daily citing Mariusz Duszyński, spokesperson for Gdańsk’s prosecutor’s office, that the same Jerzy Ż was jailed in 2011 for sexual assault. PIMPING DENIALS The most egregious accusation — even leveled against Nawrocki by Prime Minister Tusk — is that the incoming president was involved in pimping at a luxury hotel at Sopot, a beach resort on the Baltic Sea. It is an assertion Nawrocki strenuously denies. Tusk accused the leadership of the conservative nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, which supported Nawrocki’s presidential bid, of knowing “about the connections with the gangsters, about ‘arranging for girls’ … about the apartment fraud and other matters still hidden.” The most egregious accusation — even leveled against Karol Nawrocki by Prime Minister Donald Tusk — is that the incoming president was involved in pimping at a luxury hotel at Sopot, a beach resort on the Baltic Sea. | Klaudia Radecka/NurPhoto via Getty Images The story first appeared in May on Onet, another major news website, which gathered testimony that Nawrocki had arranged prostitutes for guests of the hotel where he was working for security — in return for a cut of the cash for himself. Following the Onet report, a member of parliament for Civic Coalition appeared on television to vouch for it. “I have knowledge that all the information presented … in the Onet article is simply true,” Agnieszka Pomaska, a member of parliament for the region where the alleged offenses took place, told TVN24. Nawrocki sued Onet over the story. Still, his critics point out that he, significantly, did not do so under the special fast-track “election mode” of court proceedings that would have required a final decision within 48 hours for allegations made during a campaign. Now, the case will likely take months, if not years, to resolve. Asked by Wirtualna Polska whether the allegations were false, Nawrocki said: “Absolutely. I was slandered.” “The hotel hosted everyone from [Russian President] Vladimir Putin to political elites and music stars performing at the Sopot Festival. What guests do for entertainment is their business — I had nothing to do with it. My job was to ensure their safety and security,” he added. FOOTBALL HOOLIGANISM Nawrocki admitted he took part in a brawl between hooligans from rival football clubs from Gdańsk and Poznań in 2009 when he was 26 and had just begun work in the Institute for National Remembrance, a state agency tracking Nazi and Communist crimes against Poles. The fight, which the keen pugilist Nawrocki called “sparring,” had been investigated at the time, with Wirtualna Polska reporting that some of the participants had serious criminal records. During the election campaign, Nawrocki embraced his on-brand heritage as a fighter, saying he took part in “sporting, noble fights.” “When I sparred with someone — let me stress, always with willing participants — I never ran a background check or asked for their criminal record. It’s entirely possible that some of them had done bad things. But that doesn’t mean their actions reflect on me in any way,” Nawrocki said in the interview for Wirtualna Polska. The president-elect conceded, however, that he overstepped by calling the brawls “noble” during the campaign. MORE APARTMENTS IN GDAŃSK Another allegation concerns Nawrocki’s personal use of apartments at the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, a national institution, when he was its director of the between 2017 and 2021. The case was first reported by Gazeta Wyborcza in early 2025. “As director of the Museum of the Second World War, Nawrocki stayed in a deluxe apartment within the museum’s hotel complex for half a year—despite living just 5 kilometers away. The PiS-backed presidential candidate did not pay for the accommodation and now denies any wrongdoing,” the newspaper wrote. Following the report, the prosecutor’s office in Gdańsk opened an investigation in February into allegations that Nawrocki stayed in the apartments free of charge for a total of 201 days. The probe is ongoing. If the apartments had been rented out commercially, Gazeta Wyborcza claimed, the museum would have made 120,000 złoty (€28,000). Nawrocki denies he made the museum apartments his second home, insisting he stayed there during the coronavirus quarantine and also used the apartments for official meetings with domestic and foreign guests. Another investigation — though not formally targeting Nawrocki—concerns the disappearance of 8,000 albums of historical materials from the main exhibition of the museum. The albums went missing from museum storage between April and June 2020, during Nawrocki’s tenure as director. The current museum leadership believes the items were destroyed, resulting in financial damage of no less than 200,000 złoty. The investigation is ongoing. ALTER EGO Within the realm of the odd rather than potentially criminal, a 2018 interview given to a Gdańsk branch of TVP, Poland’s public broadcaster, resurfaced during the election campaign. The interview was with a Tadeusz Batyr, a writer exploring the Polish underworld of the 1990s. He heaped praise on a book by Nawrocki. The twist? Batyr turned out to be Nawrocki himself, his face blurred and voice distorted to protect his identity from mobsters. Nawrocki defended himself by saying:  “Literary pseudonyms are nothing new in Polish journalism, literature and academia.”

WARSAW — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Wednesday reshuffled his government in an effort to regain the initiative after his party’s candidate scored a bruising defeat in the June 1 presidential election. “After the political earthquake that was the presidential election, we need to move forward. I speak from the heart, enough whining,” Tusk said. The new Cabinet is being trimmed to 21 ministers from 26, and the biggest changes include the creation of a new super ministry in charge of finances and the economy under Andrzej Domański, the current finance minister, and the dismissal of Adam Bodnar as justice minister. Bodnar had come under fire for the slow pace of fixing the judiciary after the previous Law and Justice (PiS) party government and prosecuting former officials facing allegations of abuse of power and corruption. This became a major cause of frustration for supporters of Tusk’s four-party coalition, which won power in late 2023. The sense that the government was adrift was one of the factors that led to the defeat of Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, the candidate of Tusk’s Civic Platform party in the presidential election, to PiS-backed Karol Nawrocki, a right-wing hardliner. “The time of post-election trauma ends today,” Tusk said, admitting it will be a “difficult road” for his government to regain its footing. The big winner in the reshuffle is Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, a conservative, who now becomes a deputy prime minister. This is part of a broader shift to the right by Tusk as he tries to block the rise of PiS and the far-right Confederation party by restoring border controls to clamp down on illegal immigration. The prime minister pledged his refreshed Cabinet will focus on “order, security, and the future,” framing these priorities in the context of “aggressive Russia and Belarus.” “We live in a black swan reality, but we won’t let it surprise us,” Tusk said, vowing to eliminate Russian and Belarusian efforts to destabilize Poland. Tusk also removed the health minister for not addressing the growing crisis in healthcare financing. A new ministry for energy is being created, and there are new ministers of state assets, culture and agriculture. Sports Minister Sławomir Nitras also got the chop; he had been in charge of Trzaskowski’s failed presidential campaign. “The government appears to have targeted areas where polls show repeated and consistent voter demand for change — or where it’s rated most poorly,” said Anna Wojciuk, a political scientist at Warsaw University. Now that the changes have been made, the government has to clearly lay out its purpose and vision, said Adam Traczyk, executive director at More In Common, an international think tank. “We’ve been talking about who might lose a post, who will replace whom, which ministries might be merged and so on, but all that is secondary. The real issue is what this government actually wants to achieve,” Traczyk said. “If this new cabinet lineup doesn’t deliver meaningful results and can’t communicate a story about what it’s for, then nothing will change. We’ll just keep drifting,” Traczyk added. A DEFEAT FOR TUSK If Trzaskowski had won, Tusk would have had an ally as president who would have approved legislation that had been stalled by the PiS-aligned incumbent, Andrzej Duda. Nawrocki, however, promises to be an even fiercer foe. Immediately after the presidential election, Tusk called a vote of confidence in his government, but largely failed to outline a strategy ahead of the next general election scheduled for 2027. The coalition has been bogged down in discussing the details of the reshuffle while finding itself on the back foot against PiS and the far-right opposition over issues such as migration, the rapidly rising deficit and ensuring continued support for Kyiv despite growing anti-Ukraine sentiment on the political right. Tusk’s government was slow to react to right-wing vigilantes patrolling Poland’s border with Germany to prevent alleged readmission of illegal migrants. Dozens of anti-immigration rallies took place across Poland last week. The government is also under fire from its own backers for failing to show determination in pushing through changes like easing Poland’s draconian abortion rules or holding PiS’s former government officials to account more effectively.  The government enjoys the support of just 32 percent of Poles, a new monthly survey by state-run pollster CBOS showed earlier this month. Nearly half — 48 percent — said they were opposed to them. Party polling is also bad. Tusk’s Civic Coalition is level with PiS at 31 percent, according to POLITICO’s Poll of Polls. Other coalition parties are on the verge of minimum support required to win seats in parliament. Meanwhile, the far-right Confederation party is at 15 percent, giving it and PiS a potentially strong majority in the next parliament. The new government is expected to be sworn in by Duda on Thursday.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Friday warned nationalist vigilantes patrolling the German border to stand down, calling their actions illegal and disruptive, as his government grapples with rising tensions both on the frontier and within his ruling coalition. The warning follows Warsaw’s decision to temporarily reinstate border checks with Germany and Lithuania starting July 7, citing an unsubstantiated spike in migrants being pushed back by German authorities. In recent days, self‑declared “citizen patrols,” some reported to number in the hundreds, have gathered on the Polish side of the German border, claiming to prevent migrant returns sent by Berlin. The fracas over these patrols has strong political implications, and could pile pressure on Tusk’s increasingly fragile centrist coalition. While the government is telling the vigilantes to go home, conservative nationalist President-elect Karol Nawrocki is praising them. “Only the Border Guard has the right to control our borders,” government spokesperson Adam Szłapka said after a hastily convened security meeting in Warsaw. “Anyone impersonating officers or hindering their work will face consequences.” Videos circulating online show masked men stopping cars, asking for identification and attempting so-called “citizen arrests” of those they suspect of illegal entry. Regional officials have warned the actions may constitute impersonation of public authority and pose risks to public safety. Tusk branded the groups’ political backers, including some opposition lawmakers, “shameful and scandalous.” Nawrocki, by contrast, thanked one of the organizers, far-right activist Robert Bąkiewicz, earlier this week for what he called a “citizen-led defense of the border” — a comment critics argue risks legitimizing the self-appointed patrols. The decision to close the border was meant to give Tusk a platform to project strength at a precarious moment for his government. The premier is under pressure to reassert control following a humiliating defeat in last month’s presidential election, when Tusk–backed Rafał Trzaskowski lost to Law and Justice (PiS)-supported Nawrocki. The loss has shaken the alliance that brought Tusk to power in 2023 and emboldened his coalition partners to explore their options. In a sign of growing friction, junior coalition partners, including parliamentary Speaker Szymon Hołownia, were seen Thursday meeting privately with PiS lawmaker Adam Bielan, and reportedly even PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński, in a late-night gathering that has fueled speculation of behind-the-scenes maneuvering. Tusk’s team insists the prime minister remains firmly in charge. He is expected to carry out a cabinet reshuffle later this month, a move seen in Warsaw as a test of his ability to reassert authority within the fractious coalition.