President nominates Tusk as PM designate, Kopacz becomes new Sejm speaker

2011-11-09



Prime Minister Donald Tusk on 8 November tendered the resignation of his cabinet and was swiftly appointed by President Bronislaw Komorowski as the PM designate with the task of forming a new government. Mr. Tusk now has until 22 November to put together the new cabinet, and until 6 December to win parliamentary approval.
As in the 2007-2011 parliament, the new government is expected to be a coalition of Mr. Tusk’s Civic Platform (PO) and the Polish Peasants’ Party (PSL). Several members of the previous cabinet are tipped to retain their posts in the new one, most notably Deputy PM and economy minister Waldemar Pawlak and finance minister Jacek Rostowski.
Meanwhile, at its opening session on 8 November the new Parliament voted to appoint Ewa Kopacz, health minister in the outgoing government, as its new speaker, the first woman ever to hold the role.