Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski warned that President Karol Nawrocki’s attempts to reshape Poland into a presidential republic are unrealistic and doomed to fail if he continues maliciously vetoing
government initiatives, amid a grinding institutional conflict that has already cost state coffers billions of euros.
The political clash between the Polish government and the presidency has reached a severe impasse. Speaking to Polish radio station "Jedynka", Radosław Sikorski dismissed the executive’s push to change the Constitution and thereby expand presidential powers, pointing out that such constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority in the Seim, the lower house of the Polish parliament.
Using obstruction tactics, the president will not achieve his goal, Sikorski asserted, adding that Karol Nawrocki’s current behavior will not convince any government-affiliated politician to grant the president more powers. The foreign minister’s remarks followed comments from presidential press secretary Rafal Leskiewicz, who recently warned the government against interfering with presidential prerogatives regarding the granting of pardons. Sikorski countered sharply by stating that the government can say the exact same thing in reverse, emphasizing that the president should not interfere with the governance of Poland, which is the government’s job.
Diplomatic Gridlock and Personal Appointments
Sikorski labeled his first year of working alongside Karol Nawrocki as “exhausting”, pointing to an ongoing refusal to approve ambassadorial appointments. He accused the Polish president of illegally trying to control the personnel policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, even though the Constitution does not provide for such a role for the president. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the presidency have been locked in a bitter feud over diplomatic personnel policy since 2024, leaving dozens of Polish embassies currently led by lower-ranking temporary chargés d’affaires rather than full ambassadors.
The disputed diplomatic posts include key international candidacies, such as Bogdan Klich to Washington and Ryszard Schnepf to Italy. Although the Polish president expressed hope in April that both sides were nearing an agreement regarding these appointments, the public quarrel continues to this day and final decisions remain unmade.
Billions in Lost State Revenue Due to Presidential Vetoes
Beyond diplomatic appointments, the legislative standoff carries a staggering financial cost. Official calculations from the Polish Ministry of Finance, presented during the legislative process and reported by the country’s media on Thursday, indicate that President Karol Nawrocki’s vetoes have cost Poland up to 1.7 bil. euroniems, a figure that climbs to 1.9 bil. eurų when factoring in funds previously designated for healthcare.
During his first year in office, Nawrocki vetoed 41 laws and referred two additional measures to the Constitutional Tribunal (KT) for preliminary review. Using this mechanism, the Polish president can halt the adoption of legal acts for an indefinite period and prevent parliament from overriding a veto, because the tribunal is not obligated to make a decision within any statutory deadline. This stalling tactic is aided by the matching political ideology of the presidency and the conservative KT majority, which often coordinate actions to prevent the ruling coalition from implementing key economic policy measures.
It is estimated that the greatest damage to the state budget was caused by the suspension of the planned corporate profit tax for fuel sector conglomerates. It was expected to collect 3.8 mlrd. zlotų (883,2 mln. eurų) from it, but Nawrocki referred the law to the KT for consideration. Other significant sources of revenue lost due to the president’s actions include a vetoed alcohol excise tax increase, which cost the state budget 1.8 mlrd. zlotų (418,3 mln. eurų). A vetoed law aimed at tightening tax rules and expanding the SENT cargo monitoring system resulted in another 1.2 mlrd. zlotų (278,9 mln. eurų) in uncollected revenue. Large revenues for financing healthcare were also not received, as a halted sugar tax increase cost the National Health Fund (NFZ) about 850 mln. zlotų (198 mln. eurų).
Social Program Comparisons and Unresolved Friction
The Polish news portal "Money.pl" compared the lost 7.3 mlrd. zlotų in direct budget revenue with the expenditures of Poland’s main social programs. The suspended funds would have been completely sufficient to cover the annual expenses of the "Active Parent" childcare benefit program, which requires 6 mlrd. zlotų (1.4 mlrd. eurų) per year.
Despite the mounting financial and administrative strain, the ongoing public friction and institutional standoffs persist across multiple branches of the Polish state without final resolutions in sight.
