A tense power-sharing coalition takes shape in Poland
Nawrocki was scheduled to travel to two small Polish towns on Thursday and Friday after taking office to unveil his priorities, which will likely include raising the lowest income tax threshold, a promise left unfulfilled by Donald Tusk's government.
Since June 1, when Nawrocki won the presidential election with 50.89% of the vote against Rafal Trzaskowski, the liberal mayor of Warsaw and a member of Tusk's centrist party, the PiS has relished the victory of its "citizen candidate," whom it endorsed. The new president is a 42-year-old historian from a working-class background. He is the father of three, a devout Catholic, an amateur boxer and a former hooligan. He was virtually unknown to the public in the fall of 2024, when his candidacy was announced.
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Euronews
a day ago
- Euronews
Poland charges suspect over parcel bomb amid Russia sabotage fears
Polish prosecutors have charged one person over an alleged parcel bomb plot that also involves two Russian suspects, at a time when European governments are on high alert over acts of sabotage attributed to Moscow. Poland's Internal Security Agency (ABW) said on Monday that an indictment was filed in the central town of Piotrków Trybunalski against Kristina S, a citizen of Ukraine. The accused — whose full name and age were not disclosed — was charged with being complicit in causing an immediate danger of an explosion, the ABW said. She faces up to eight years in jail if found guilty. In July 2024, Kristina S sent a package containing explosives via a courier company, according to the ABW. The package contained "explosives in the form of nitroglycol, as well as hidden military-grade electric fuses, an initiating device, a metal thermos with a shaped charge insert, and powdered aluminium," the agency said. "This structure constituted a so-called shaped charge bomb," it added. The parcel was discovered and secured in a large warehouse of the courier company in Poland's central Łódź province, the authorities said. "In the event of an explosion, the shipment could have caused significant damage to critical infrastructure, piercing sensitive fuel tanks, building ceilings or strong steel structures," said a statement by the National Prosecutor's Office. Kristina S is accused of committing the alleged offence along with another Ukrainian citizen and two Russian citizens. Two individuals have been placed under preventive detention in connection with the case, according to Polish prosecutors. Polish officials say the country is the target of espionage and hybrid war attacks initiated by Moscow that have grown more serious since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Earlier this year, Poland's interior ministry said the ABW had detained at least 44 people on suspicion of espionage or sabotage for Russia or Belarus in Poland since the start of the all-out war. Among them are Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians and Poles, the ministry said. More broadly, security agencies across Europe have accused Russia of staging dozens of attacks and other sabotage incidents on the continent since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, often using people with passports other than Russian for its malign activities, such as Bulgarian, Moldovan or Ukrainian. In July last year, there was a series of parcel fires targeting courier companies in Poland, Germany and the UK. Western officials blamed the incidents on the Kremlin. Moscow has repeatedly denied such allegations, despite a slew of evidence and court cases proving otherwise. In one example, a London court in March convicted a group of Bulgarians living in the UK of spying for Russia and plotting to assassinate or kidnap Kristo Grozev, a Bulgarian journalist and former lead Russia investigator with Bellingcat.
Euronews
3 days ago
- Euronews
Nawrocki's first trip as Polish President will be to meet Trump in US
Karol Nawrocki's first visit as President of Poland will to be the United States, where he will meet with Donald Trump. The head of the President's Cabinet, Pawel Szefernaker, announced Nawrocki's meeting with Trump on X on Saturday. "In an official congratulatory letter delivered on the day of his swearing-in, US President Donald Trump invited Polish President Karol Nawrocki to the White House for an official working meeting on 3 September 2025," wrote Szefernaker. The meeting is expected to focus on bilateral relations, security cooperation and NATO, as Warsaw aims to strengthen its strategic partnership with Washington. Relations with the United States, including the Polish diaspora, the Trump administration, NATO and Trump himself, were one of the key themes in the Polish presidential campaign, which concluded with the second round of elections in June. With the ongoing war in Ukraine and security issues along the border with Belarus, both candidates in the race ran their campaign on the premise that they would be the ones to ensure the best possible transatlantic cooperation. During a parade marking the 3rd of May, the anniversary of the Polish Constitution, Nawrocki met with the Polish community in Chicago to celebrate the holiday and express his support for the close ties between the two countries. The previous day, Nawrocki was received in the Oval Office by US President Donald Trump, after attending an event to mark the National Day of Prayer. During a presidential debate in April, Nawrocki conveyed that his priority was to go to Washington "to sort out our international relations and do what Donald Tusk's government is not doing". A US delegation led by Kelly Loeffler, head of the Small Business Administration, was present at Nawrocki's presidential inauguration. Loeffler highlighted the US commitment to its alliance with Poland, emphasising the development of economic cooperation and common security goals. Marcin Przydacz from the president's office said that Nawrocki received a sculpture of an eagle from the US delegation - a symbolic expression of the close relations between the two countries. Can the US be a guarantor of lasting peace for Poland? Many conservative politicians in Poland welcomed Trump's policy, even despite the US president's clashes with Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelenski. "Without the Americans, it is difficult to imagine a lasting peace, and yet we all strive for it," Morawiecki said in an interview with Euronews in March. He added that "without American support we in Europe would not have been able to maintain peace for decades". Current Polish President Andrzej Duda expressed similar sentiments. "Today my conclusion is absolutely unequivocal, there is no one but the United States who can stop Putin," Duda said in an interview with Euronews . "That is why I believe that President Donald Trump, through his determination, can end this war," he added. Duda was the first international leader to visit Donald Trump at the White House after his inauguration in January. Poles have ambiguous opinions on the US Most Poles recognise the military might of the US, leading many to appreciate the strategic relationship between the two countries. A survey conducted in March for the Polish weekly magazine Polityka found that 85% of respondents recognized the US as a powerful military presence globally. At the same time, the percentage of Poles who say the US has a positive impact on the world is falling. In a survey conducted by state research institution CBOS in April 2025, only 20% of respondents said the US had a positive influence on international politics, the lowest recorded result since the agency began measuring this opinion in 2006. Data from the same survey also shows that only 31% of Poles would rate Polish-US relations as "good" - this is the lowest score since the fall of communism. "Model NATO ally" Key figures from the Trump administration have praised Poland's policies, including the country's commitment to security spending and migration policy. In February, US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth described Poland as a "model NATO ally" after a meeting with his Polish counterpart Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. In turn, Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed similar sentiments in a statement. "Poland and the United States stand together as partners in building a safer and more prosperous future for our peoples," he wrote. "We look forward to further strengthening our cooperation on energy security." "Our shared future has never looked brighter," Rubio added.
Euronews
4 days ago
- Euronews
EU Commission reacts to Poland's alleged misuse of recovery funds
On Friday, the news website reported that a map appeared on the National Recovery Plan (NRP) website, showing companies that had received subsidies from the European Union. What began as a simple publication online quickly sparked a dispute online, particularly on X, as users began to point out examples of alleged misallocations of EU funds. Politicians and the media subsequently commented on the matter, calling for answers. The expenditures of companies that received EU grants allegedly included company yachts, solariums, furniture, and coffee machines. Poland qualified for almost €60 billion in funding from the EU's Reconstruction and Resilience Fund. Such allocations were aimed at rebuilding member states' economies after the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to receive the funding, each EU country had to submit a National Recovery Plan (NERP) detailing how the funds would be spent to support post-pandemic economies. Under the former Law and Justice (PiS) government, Poland's access to funding was blocked by the EU due to a rule-of-law dispute between the bloc and its member state. Unblocking reconstruction funds was a key election promise made by Donald Tusk and his Civic Platform party ahead of the 2023 parliamentary elections. Some €280 million was earmarked for the hospitality sector, which suffered heavy losses due to successive pandemic-related lockdowns. A dedicated website presented requests from businesses in the sector, but this service has since become unavailable. Nevertheless, media reports have emerged detailing how some of the money was spent, including on yachts, saunas, solariums, and furniture. The issue of KPO aid to the hotel and catering industry was addressed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk during a speech given on Friday. "I will not accept any waste of KPO funds" - said the Prime Minister. Polish president's reaction Numerous politicians, from both the left and the right, quickly reacted to accusations of misallocation of funds, a number of politicians. Among them was the recently-inaugurated president of Poland, Karol Nawrocki. "I am often asked by journalists where we should get the money for [my proposed programs]. Today is a very important day [regarding this matter]. We have found out how the NRP funds have been distributed in Poland. I do not want funds on behalf of 10.5 million Poles spent on saunas, solariums and coffee machines. I want funding for Polish families," Nawrocki said during a speech on Friday. The Regional Public Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw has begun preliminary investigations into media reports of irregularities in the awarding of grants from the NRP. The President of the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, Katarzyna Duber-Stachurska, was dismissed after doubts emerged about how EU funds were spent. European Commission intervention European Commission spokesman Maciej Berestecki stressed in an interview with Polish radio station RMF FM that "Poland is obliged to take clarifying action" on the awarding of KPO grants". Poland will now have to submit a payment request in November so that the European Commission can assess the projects' compliance with the NRP criteria. According to the Commission's press service, "It is the duty of Member States to take all appropriate measures to protect the financial interests of the Union." The Commission has the possibility to intervene if the Polish authorities do not react appropriately, above all in situations of fraud. "If we see that this does not work, the European Public Prosecutor's Office and OLAF [the Commission's anti-fraud office] will step in," they explained.
