Following the arrest of two former Law and Justice MPs, Polish President Andrzej Duda is reportedly plotting a full-fledged onslaught against the country’s new pro-EU government led by newly elected Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
According to the Polish news outlet Onet, Duda intends to write formal letters to the heads of all EU countries, US President Joe Biden, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the United Nations, and the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission for Democracy through Law about Tusk’s alleged violation of the law and constitution.
While Duda has so far refused to pursue the “nuclear option” of shortening the term of parliament and calling for early elections, he has reportedly resolved to employ “total obstruction” against Tusk’s cabinet, promising not to endorse approve a single bill proposed by the ruling coalition, Onet reported citing anonymous sources.
Duda’s accusations stem from the recent arrest of former Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski and his deputy, Maciej Wonsik, both of whom were detained at the Presidential Palace on Tuesday despite having received a pardon back in 2015.
Tusk’s new government has claimed that Duda lacked the authority to give amnesty to the two Law and Justice (PiS) MPs charged with abuse of power, and has renewed the case against them. In December, a judge sentenced both men to two years in prison.
An arrest warrant was issued on Monday, resulting in a standoff at the Presidential Palace until the two were apprehended. Both have recently claimed that they have started a hunger strike in protest of their arrest.
Duda and other PiS members have fiercely condemned the arrests of the two former officials, with party head Jaroslaw Kaczynski calling them the country’s “first political prisoners since 1989.” The PiS had demanded the immediate release of the lawmakers, stating that their detention is a constitutional violation.
