PM Tusk: three ministers among Civic Coalition's top candidates for MEPs

The elections in June provide Tusk's Civic Coalition (KO) with another chance to cement their place as Poland's dominant political force after they failed to knock nationalist rivals Law and Justice (PiS) off the top spot in local elections this month.

PiS were the largest party in the local elections and in a general election in October, though they lost their majority to a broad pro-European coalition led by Tusk that vowed to reverse democratic backsliding, boost the rights of women and minorities and repair ties with Poland's Western allies.

With war raging across Poland's eastern border in Ukraine, Tusk told his party that there was no room for complacency regarding the upcoming European Parliament elections, which often fail to capture the imagination of voters.

"These elections to the European Parliament are one of the most important in the post-war history of Poland," he said.

"They have never been so important and never had such a radical impact on our everyday lives as they do now, during the war, during threats that Europe did not even think about a few years ago."

Tusk said that Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński would stand in the European elections. State Assets Minister Borys Budka and Culture Minister Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, responsible for sweeping changes to state media under Tusk, also feature on the list of candidates.

"Today, the European Union needs tough realism and defence of Polish interests by people who are credible and believe in Europe," Tusk said.

The announcement of their candidacies sets the stage for a potential reshuffle in government in which other departments could also see a change in leadership.

Sienkiewicz has already handed in his resignation. "I've really taken a liking to this ministry and spent plenty of emotional moments there, but it's been organized well, and I hope that my successor will feel ever better in it," he told TVN24 on Wednesday.

Law and Justice (PiS) chairman Jarosław Kaczyński was asked reporters earlier on Wednesday whether former interior minister Mariusz Kamiński and his former deputy Maciej Wąsik would run in EU parliament elections. "Yes," he replied, adding that "they are good candidates".

"But we definitely need to solve the situation in which we have two rulings of the Supreme Court," Kaczyński said.

PiS chairman added that "one does not run from responsibility to Brussels". "They wave immunities there much quicker that here, in Poland."

Former prime minister in the previous government, deputy PiS chairman Mateusz Morawiecki, told reporters he would not stand in June election.

Tusk said Kamiński and Wąsik plan to become MEPs in order to "seek illusory safety". "We're sending Kierwiński to go after them," he added, thereby announcing the current interior minister's candidacy.

In December 2023, Kamiński and Wąsik were sentenced by court to two years in prison for abuse of power years back in the so-called "land scandal". Shortly after, the two politicians were detained and placed in separate prisons.

President Andrzej Duda pardoned the jailed politicians on Jan. 23 and they were released. But parliament speaker Szymon Hołownia said Kamiński and Wąsik had their MP mandates nullified in accordance with the Polish law, which prohibits convicted persons from serving as lawmakers.

Duda and PiS claim the pardoned politicians are still MPs because one chamber of the Supreme Court, which many outside of PiS consider illegal, deemed Hołownia's decision invalid and non-binding. Another chamber approved nullification of the mandates.