Latest news with #Radoslaw Sikorski
Free Malaysia Today
6 days ago
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Poland's Tusk unveils new cabinet in bid to reverse decline
Donald Tusk's coalition has steadily declined in opinion polls since mid-2024. (AP pic) WARSAW : Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced a cabinet reshuffle today in a bid to regain momentum amid falling approval ratings and potential clashes with the new, opposition-backed nationalist president. Since Karol Nawrocki's victory over Tusk's liberal ally Rafal Trzaskowski in June's presidential election, dissension within the ruling pro-European coalition has grown, raising doubt about its future under a veto-wielding head of state. Under the reshuffle, foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski was promoted to deputy prime minister while keeping his current post. 'We as a government need a very strong political figure in international relations,' Tusk told reporters. To consolidate oversight of economic affairs, Tusk announced a new super ministry combining finance and the economy to be headed by current finance minister Andrzej Domanski. 'The most important structural undertaking is building a viable financial and economic centre. There will be a single centre operating transparently and implementing a comprehensive economic policy,' Tusk said. Milosz Motyka from junior coalition party PSL will head a newly created energy ministry. A judge, Waldemar Zurek, was named to run the justice ministry as it seeks to shore up rule of law standards that critics say deteriorated under the previous nationalist government. Tusk's coalition has steadily declined in opinion polls since mid-2024. This month, the share of government opponents has risen to 48% while the government's support has held steady at 32%, the latest CBOS poll showed. Polls have traced the government's drop in popularity to public disenchantment with a lack of concrete achievements, with the opposition landing effective blows over a failure to stem undocumented migration into Poland. The reshuffle drew criticism from the main opposition Law and Justice party, which lost power in the 2023 election. 'Reconstruction means nothing other than the further destruction of Poland. Some incompetents were replaced by others,' the party's vice president, Mariusz Blaszczak, said in a post on X. Nawrocki, who will be sworn in as president on Aug 6, has questioned the coalition's pro-European, liberal agenda but said he is willing to accept moves to increase the tax-free pay threshold and deregulate parts of the economy. 'All laws that will be good for Poles will meet with my approval,' Nawrocki said in the televised interview on Monday. Tusk, in his remarks announcing the reshuffle, called on supporters not to despair after Nawrocki's presidential victory. 'No defeat, including the presidential election, justifies this mood or despair, this slackness, these thoughts of surrender… The time of post-election trauma definitely ends today,' the former European Council president said.
CNA
16-07-2025
- Politics
- CNA
Russia attacks Ukraine with hundreds of drones, energy infrastructure hit
KYIV: Russia attacked cities across Ukraine overnight with hundreds of drones and a missile strike, hitting energy infrastructure and wounding at least 15 people, authorities said on Wednesday (Jul 16). Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 400 drones and one ballistic missile, primarily targeting Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih and Vinnytsia - three cities in different parts of Ukraine. The large-scale long-range attacks targeted energy infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X. Power was cut for 80,000 families in Kryvyi Rih and other locations in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine's largest private energy company DTEK said on the Telegram app. The air force said it had shot down most of the drones, but that 12 targets were hit by 57 drones and the missile. Russia has stepped up attacks on cities across Ukraine this summer, regularly sending several hundred drones accompanied by ballistic missiles. The attacks were cited by US President Donald Trump this week as a reason for his decision to approve more weapons for Ukraine, including air defences. "Russia does not change its strategy, and to effectively counter this terror we need a systemic strengthening of defences - more air defences, more interceptor (drones), more determination to make Russia feel our response," Zelenskyy wrote. In Vinnytsia and the surrounding region, eight people were wounded, according to Ukraine's interior ministry. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on X that drones had hit a factory of the Polish wood flooring producer Barlinek Group in Vinnytsia, which is in the western part of central Ukraine. "The plant manager told me just now that it was deliberate, from three directions ... Putin's criminal war is getting closer to our borders," he added. The head of the military administration in Kryvyi Rih, Oleksandr Vilkul, said Russian forces conducted an extended attack with a missile and 28 drones. He said water supplies had also been disrupted in some areas. A 17-year-old boy had been severely injured in the attack and was fighting for his life in hospital, Vilkul added. In Kharkiv, a frequent target of Russian attacks, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said at least 17 explosions were recorded in a 20-minute drone attack in which three people were injured. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said air defence units had gone into action for a time in the capital, but there were no reports of casualties or damage there. Russia has killed thousands of civilians in attacks on Ukrainian cities since launching its full-scale invasion more than three years ago. Moscow says civilian infrastructure such as energy systems are legitimate targets because they help Ukraine's war effort. Ukraine also launches long-range strikes on targets in Russia, although on a more limited scale.
Al Mayadeen
15-07-2025
- Business
- Al Mayadeen
NATO's defense spending surge may cause its collapse: Lavrov
NATO's surge in defense spending will only damage the alliance and push it toward collapse, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned, calling for greater pragmatism in its approach, as he addressed reporters following the Collective Security Treaty Organization's Council of Foreign Ministers meeting. "He can probably see – since he is such a wise sage – that the disastrous increase in spending of NATO countries will also lead to the collapse of this organization," Lavrov said, responding to Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski's claim that Russia's military build-up would lead to its downfall. "Meanwhile, Russia – as President [Vladimir Putin] said the other day in Minsk after the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council meeting – plans to reduce its military spending and be guided by common sense, rather than imaginary threats, as NATO member states do, including Sikorski," Lavrov pointed out. Following the NATO Summit held in The Hague on June 24-25, the alliance's member states have agreed to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, as outlined in the adopted communique, with plans to allocate at least 3.5% of GDP by 2035 based on NATO's agreed definition of military spending. An allocation of 1.5% of GDP will be dedicated to safeguarding critical infrastructure and networks, enhancing civil preparedness and resilience, fostering innovation, and bolstering the defense industrial base. Eager to claim credit, Trump hailed the agreement by all 32 NATO member states to work toward spending five percent of GDP on defense, calling it "a great victory for everybody." During closed-door discussions, diplomats revealed that Trump stressed the importance of US leadership while pushing allies to direct their expanded defense budgets toward purchasing American-made weaponry. With NATO leaders unanimously praising the agreement as "historic," Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever observed that Europe's "long break from history" had ended, emphasizing the continent's urgent need to assume full responsibility for its defense amid escalating geopolitical tensions.
