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20 November 2013

Presseurop: 'Tusk's new pro-European government'


Amid corruption scandals and faltering public support, Polish PM Donald Tusk has made "far-reaching" changes to his cabinet, including the appointment of former ING Bank chief economist Mateusz Szczurek as finance minister.

Tusk, in office since 2007, said his sweeping changes would bring "new energy" to the government in Warsaw. Halfway through his second term in office, his coalition's popularity has been in decline as 2015 parliamentary elections approach.

Tusk said that he had appointed a "very gifted economist" to the role of finance minister as part of his major cabinet reshuffle, referring to ING economist Mateusz Szczurek. Szczurek will replace Jacek Rostowski, the architect of several unpopular economic reforms in the latter part of his six-year stint as finance minister. Earlier in his tenure, however, Rostowski was lauded as the mastermind that kept Poland out of recession in 2009. Poland was the only EU member to avoid negative growth after the financial crisis.

Tusk also announced changes of leadership at the ministries of environment, sports, education, science and administration. President Bronislaw Komorowski must approve all of the new appointments before the changes become official, but he was expected to back Tusk's reshuffle.

The reshuffle comes the day after the European Parliament passed the new EU budget for 2014-2020, which allocates Poland more than 400 billion zlotys (€100 billion) for cohesive and common agricultural policy funding. Gazeta Wyborcza notes this is no coincidence, adding that Tusk believes underlining his success in Brussels along with the reshuffle of his cabinet will help to restore public trust for the government and the ruling Civic Platform party.

Article

Original article (in Polish) © Gazeta Wyborcza

Further reporting © Deutsche Welle



© Presseurop


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