"History is in the making". Hołownia to discuss expose date with Tusk

At a press briefing on Thursday, Szymon Hołownia was asked when he would meet with Donald Tusk and if they would discuss the date for his expose.

"We have an appointment tomorrow and that's exactly what we will discuss. Naturally, I leave this decision to the prime minister, it's up to him to decide how he wants it happen," he replied.

"Let me remind you that this is a step we've never practiced before in Poland. So, history is in the making. We're doing these things for the first time," Hołownia added.

The speaker explained this so-called second constitutional step "consists of three modules". "The first is the appointment, selection of prime minister by the Sejm. The next one is him (the new prime minister) giving an expose. And then there's the vote over the expose and the new cabinet members," he explained.

Hołownia added it would be up to Donald Tusk to decide "if he wants to be appointed prime minister already that very day (Dec. 11) in the evening, and schedule the expose and the vote over cabinet members say for the 12th".

"Or if he says, for instance, that it's his will and he is certain it's better that Dec. 11 is the day when the issue of Mateusz Morawiecki's government closes, and most likely it will close, and the 12th the day he (Tusk) is appointed prime minister."

The speaker assured that the Sejm would definitely adapt to the new prime minister's wish. "One way or the other, on Dec. 12 we should have a Sejm session that will finally give us a prime minister with a vote of confidence and a government."

Hołownia was also asked if President Andrzej Duda could delay the process of appointing new government approved by a parliamentary majority. "I can't imagine a situation like that," he replied.

"I want to believe in the president's good will. Better still, I want to believe in his political survival instinct. If today, after all we've been through in the last two months, anyone still wants to meddle with the verdict Poles issued on Oct. 15, then I'm certain that Poles will not just let it slide. I think the president is aware of that."

According to Hołownia, the president should confirm the new prime minister no later than Dec. 13. He added that any attempts to delay the new government would be "sheer pettiness".

"It should be done as soon as possible. I understand that on the 12th (of December) the president is on an international trip, and back in Warsaw on the 13th. There's no point to hesitate," the speaker stressed.

President Duda on Monday (Nov. 27) swore in members of a government that will likely only last until December, in what opposition parties say is a "farce" intended to delay them from taking power after they won a majority in October's election.

The nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, in power since 2015, came first in the election but fell well short of the 231 seats needed for a majority and appears unlikely to win a vote of confidence in parliament.

A broad alliance of pro-European Union parties, led by Civic Platform leader Donald Tusk, secured 248 seats and declared their readiness to form a government, but nevertheless PiS ally President Andrzej Duda gave Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki the first shot at doing so.

"We abide by tradition by appointing a government formed by a candidate selected by the political camp which won parliamentary elections," Duda said after swearing in the ministers.

The next step is for Morawiecki to win the confidence vote in two weeks' time, but given the numbers of seats, that looks unlikely.

That would lead to another nomination for prime minister and that person needing a simple majority in another confidence vote. The opposition is hoping a Tusk-led cabinet would achieve power during this step.

Morawiecki's new government will be composed of 50% of women and is set out to be a cabinet of experts. Several officials from his previous cabinet stayed on and some deputy ministers were promoted.

However, several prominent PiS politicians, including former State Assets Minister Jacek Sasin, have said they will not join the new government, leading opposition politicians and commentators to say that the party's big-hitters do not want to be in an administration that is doomed to failure.

PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński said on Monday the suggestion that the party's heavyweights did not want to participate was "an outright lie" and that forming a government made up of experts rather than politicians had been his idea.

"The point is that there should not be too many politicians in this government," he told state-run news agency PAP. "We want to show that it is possible to govern differently."

The prime minister has vowed to implement the policy proposals of opposition parties in a bid to persuade them to work with him.

However, his appeals have gained little traction with opposition lawmakers who accuse PiS of presiding over democratic backsliding that has blocked EU funds, an erosion of women's rights, the demonisation of minority groups like the LGBT community and rampant nepotism in state companies.

"We all know that this is one big comedy and farce," Marcin Kierwiński, a lawmaker from the liberal Civic Coalition (KO) grouping, told private broadcaster Radio Zet. "It is a fight for time."