Poland: Watch the change of government with popcorn at the movies

Warsaw - Poland: Watch the change of government with popcorn at the movies

When Donald Tusk finally reaches his destination after almost eight weeks of waiting, he holds his hands in the air and forms a heart with his thumbs and index fingers. Parliament has just elected the former opposition leader as the future head of government by a large majority. While Tusk speaks, Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Polish President Lech Walesa fights back tears of emotion up in the gallery.

Once again, this change of power in Poland, which has seemingly dragged on endlessly since the parliamentary elections, is a great spectacle. Previously, the new national-conservative PiS government of the previous Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had, as expected, failed a vote of confidence in parliament.

This brought to an end a political farce with which Poland's national conservatives had kept the country in check for almost two months and tarnished the reputation of democracy in order to take their leave of power. The parliamentary session was even broadcast live in two halls of a large Warsaw cinema - the audience watched the absurd theater with popcorn and cola.

After his election, Tusk said that this was a great day for all those who, during the years of the PiS government, "firmly believed that things would get even better, that we would drive out the darkness and chase away evil".

PiS exploited all the deadlines

Until the very end, the PiS had pretended that it could simply continue to govern. Voters had rushed to the polls on October 15 with a record turnout to express their dissatisfaction with the National Conservatives, who have been in power since 2015. And it has been clear to everyone for eight weeks now: the PiS has been voted out of office and an opposition alliance led by former EU Council President Donald Tusk has won the parliamentary election.

Despite this, the PiS, with the help of its president Andrzej Duda, played a trick to exploit all the deadlines. Duda awarded the contract to form a government to PiS politician and former Prime Minister Morawiecki and swore in his cabinet - knowing full well that this transitional government would only remain in office for two weeks. An expensive show: according to calculations by the political magazine "Polityka", the salaries for the numerous two-month ministers alone cost the taxpayer around 74,000 euros in total.

Now everything should happen quickly. Tomorrow, Tusk will first make his government statement and present his ministerial team. The vote of confidence will follow in the afternoon. As Tusk can rely on a clear majority of MPs, his election is considered certain. Duda is expected to swear in Tusk's cabinet on Wednesday. Then the change would finally be complete.

Tusk's new three-party coalition government faces many challenges. One of the most pressing current problems is the blockade of border crossings to Ukraine by Polish hauliers. They see their business threatened by cheaper competition from the neighboring country. The dispute is straining Ukraine's relationship with Poland, which has been one of Kiev's most important allies since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression.

There is also a lot to do in terms of relations with Berlin and Brussels. After all, the PiS was in a permanent quarrel with the EU Commission over its judicial reform and the German government was annoying it with its demand for trillions of euros in world war reparations. Tusk and his fellow campaigners, on the other hand, stand for a pro-European course and a more conciliatory policy towards Germany.

The old new man

The 66-year-old from Gdansk was Poland's head of government from 2007 to 2014. During this time, he maintained a good relationship with the then German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). Tusk plans to fly to Brussels for an EU summit at the end of the week to discuss further aid for Ukraine.

However, many Polish citizens also have high expectations of their new government. The PiS angered many people with the tightening of abortion laws - the future government wants to liberalize the legislation again. Tusk has also already announced the restructuring of the public broadcaster, which the PiS had turned into its propaganda organ.

Despite his drive for change, Tusk will also have to deal with the problem of cohabitation. President Duda can put the brakes on many reform proposals. And he has made it abundantly clear in recent weeks that the constitutional requirement for the head of state to be non-partisan is merely a formality for him.