Poland’s minister of finance, Teresa Czerwińska, has tendered her resignation in protest at the ruling Law and Justice party’s (PiS), recently proposed social benefits package.
According to reports in a number of Polish newspapers, Professor Czerwińska’s resignation has yet to be accepted by Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki. She is nevertheless expected to leave her post in the coming weeks.
Professor Czerwińska was allegedly not consulted about the increase in social spending, and apparently only found out about the proposals a day before PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński announced them.
While Joanna Kopcińska, a government spokesperson, has denied these reports, sources within the Ministry have told Gazeta Prawna that speculation about the finance minister’s resignation had been circulating in the ruling party for several weeks.
Sources within the ministry of finance told Gazeta Wyborcza that “the head of the department believes that next year it will be impossible to finance Kaczynski’s measures.”
Unofficially, the ministry of finance dislikes the new PiS programme as the new social package will require that significant cuts be made in other areas in order to balance the budget.
