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A new animal welfare law had sparked a dispute in the Polish government coalition and almost led to its failure. Now the right-wing parties have been able to agree on a new coalition agreement.
Poland’s national conservative government has avoided an imminent break in its coalition. The three parties of the Polish national-conservative government have resolved their differences, which have turned into a struggle for power, with a new coalition agreement. However, after the announced deal, no substantive details or personnel decisions were given for an expected cabinet shakeup.
The head of the largest ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, only said that he had reached an agreement with the leaders of the smaller parties Understanding (P) and Poland Solidarity (SP) that would make a joint government possible. “We have three years until the next parliamentary elections,” Kaczynski stressed before signing the new coalition agreement.
Controversial law prohibits keeping fur animals
The dispute over a new animal protection law had tested the cooperation between PiS and its two coalition partners. Among other things, it is intended to ban the raising of animals for fur and the export of kosher and halal meat.
A parliamentary vote exposed violent tensions in the camp of the ruling national-conservative PiS party. A large group of PiS deputies around Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro voted against the bill, while other members of the government faction abstained. This was justified by the possible negative effects of the law on agriculture. In the end, the controversial law was only passed with the support of the liberal opposition.
For Kaczynski’s love of cats
The Animal Welfare Act was seen as a personal project of the influential PiS President Jaroslaw Kaczynski, known as a cat lover. In the view of political observers, Kaczynski, 71, wanted to score points with the animal protection initiative, especially with younger voters, most of whom are quite negative about PiS.
After the debacle of the voting, the main representatives of the PiS no longer wanted to rule out a rupture of the governmental majority. Because here a fierce internal struggle for power was manifested for a long time between Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and the Minister of Justice and head of the SP, Ziobro. Morawiecki’s PiS had threatened to cut the number of ministerial posts in the two coalition parties by half.
While the head of government is considered moderate, Ziobro is credited with a leading role behind a series of controversial judicial reforms that have led to massive conflicts with the EU. The EU Commission accuses Warsaw of restricting the separation of powers and the independence of judges. He also leads a campaign against LGBT rights and threatened to withdraw Poland from an international convention to protect women from domestic violence. Both politicians would like to inherit Kaczynski in his role as party leader.
Morawiecki apparently retains most
In the course of the government crisis, there was speculation as to whether the powerful PiS head would now be appointed to the government. Kaczynski is considered a strong man behind the Morawiecki government, but so far he has not held any political office. A cabinet shakeup announced by Kaczynski had been a long time coming.
New elections or the formation of a minority government without the two junior partners were on the agenda. However, it appears that Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki will retain his narrow majority of 235 of the 460 seats in the Polish parliament.
