Poland’s PM quits to answer Brussels’ call

President Bronislaw Komorowski and Marshal of the Sejm (speaker of the parliament) Ewa Kopacz shake hands before a government meeting yesterday.

AFP/Reuters/Warsaw

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk resigned yesterday, paving the way for him to take over as European Council president in December.

“I’ve handed over my papers, that’s right,” Tusk told reporters in Warsaw when asked whether he had tendered his resignation to the president.

He is likely to be replaced by Ewa Kopacz, dubbed his loyal “Iron Lady” by Polish analysts.

Brussels’s choice of Tusk to succeed Herman Van Rompuy in the key EU job is seen in Poland as not only a nod to him, but also a sign of the country’s growing political and economic importance within the European fold.

And his governing centre-right Civic Platform (PO) is seeing the first knock-on effects of his presidency, with opinion polls showing it surging ahead of conservative rivals, the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party.

But it still remains to be seen whether the “Tusk effect” will rub off on the party in legislative elections scheduled for the autumn of 2015.

Tusk, 57, earned the distinction of steering Poland through the global financial crisis as the only European Union member to maintain growth.

As prime minister he also fostered cosy ties with Poland’s neighbour, EU powerhouse Germany, in the wake of a frosty earlier episode under a PiS administration.

Tusk has also succeeded in acquiring significant EU subsidies, but critics say that under pressure from various lobby groups he has put off long promised reforms, including a flat tax and slashing bureaucracy.

By holding together disparate camps inside Civic Platform, Tusk was able to win two consecutive elections, a record in post-Communist Poland.

Markets associate him with political stability, a pragmatic approach to tricky relations with neighbours Russia and Germany, and steady stewardship of the economy.

His appointment to the post in Brussels is, in part, a recognition of his record.

He will now become the most prominent Pole on the international stage since pope John Paul II.

As president of the European Council, he will steer policy meetings of EU leaders and try to forge consensus in the union of 28 countries as it struggles to build economic recovery and tackle crises like the sanctions row with Russia over Ukraine.

Once President Bronislaw Komorowski accepts Tusk’s resignation, he will have two weeks to designate a successor before a September 25 deadline but the president could select a candidate before he makes a trip to Netherlands and the US starting on September 20.

The governing coalition – an alliance between Tusk’s PO and the agrarian Polish People’s Party (PSL) – has already nominated Kopacz, the current parliamentary speaker and an unwavering Tusk ally.

Komorowski said that he wanted to maintain the “stability” of government and came out in favour of Kopacz for prime minister.

Once he approves her candidature, she will have two weeks to present parliament with a new government and subject it to a vote of confidence.

She is highly likely to get the green light from parliament, given the extent of her backing there.

The one unknown remains the makeup of the new cabinet. There could be a “pretty significant” reshuffle, according to Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki.

But it would only affect the PO ministers, as it appears PSL will keep its three portfolios – economy, agriculture and labour.

Several key postings, including that of the defence and foreign ministers, should remain unchanged, according to media speculation.

But one of the outgoing cabinet’s stars, Regional Development Minister Elzbieta Bienkowska, will likely swap her position for that of a European commissioner.

Also widely believed to be on his way out is Interior Minister Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz, who was caught up in a high-profile bugging scandal over the summer.

According to Warsaw-based political analyst Eryk Mistewicz, 57-year-old Kopacz, a paediatrician turned parliamentary speaker, is known for her unwavering “devotion to Donald Tusk and his party “.

But that loyalty has also made her look more like a follower than a leader, says University of Warsaw political scientist Ewa Pietrzyk-Zieniewicz.

“She isn’t seen as an independent politician (...) but rather an Iron Lady, who’s always got Donald Tusk’s back,” Pietrzyk-Zieniewicz told AFP.

Reputed to be a meticulous manager, Kopacz is widely regarded as a consummate technocrat but one lacking real political clout and without a clearly defined political vision.

“She excels in time management and projects and seems to have a digital memory. She’s a perfectionist, a busy bee,” says Mistewicz.

Born into a working-class family, Kopacz is the daughter of a seamstress and a locksmith.

“She’s an uncompromising woman with character, with a sharp temper,” says Janusz Palikot, a flamboyant former vodka baron turned MP who broke ranks with Tusk.

“I’ve often seen her infuriated. And on the rare occasions I’ve seen Donald Tusk lose his cool, it’s been because of her. But she’s never suffered any consequences,” he said.

A member of Tusk’s governing PO since he set up the party in 2001, Kopacz was drawn close to him when as a physician she helped to care for his gravely ill mother and sister, according to Polish press reports.

“She’s dead serious and very determined about everything she does,” says Jacek Zakowski, a leading political commentator in Warsaw.

As Poland reeled in April 2010 from the crash of its presidential jet in Russia that claimed head of state Lech Kaczynski and dozens of senior state officials, then health minister Kopacz travelled to the crash site to personally oversee the identification of victims.

As health minister she also refused to toe the line in 2009, when governments across Europe and North America bought up expensive A/H1N1 swine flu vaccines touted by pharmaceutical giants as being indispensable for public health.

“This vaccine contains only tiny quantities of active substances. Isn’t it more like holy water than a real vaccine?” she told parliament at the time.

Her decision to eschew the costly treatment was vindicated as the flu epidemic had negligible impact in Poland.

“Ewa Kopacz doesn’t muck around. When she sinks her teeth into something, she doesn’t let go,” Zakowski said.

She also made waves by backing an abortion for a 14-year-old girl who had been raped.

While Poland’s restrictive abortion law allows for termination of a pregnancy in cases of rape and incest, or if it poses a risk to the woman’s life, the procedure is opposed by Poland’s Roman Catholic Church.

“I don’t see anything wrong with an abortion performed in line with a law that has been in place for 15 years,” Kopacz said at the time, adding that she felt “uneasy” about her position as a Catholic but not as a minister.

Kopacz is divorced and has one daughter, also a physician.