How Poland’s planned reshuffle exposed the governing coalition’s cracks
The delayed reshuffle is now a test of whether the government can hold together as a pro-EU bloc, while a radicalised nationalist right prepares for a comeback.
Poland’s long-heralded government reshuffle, billed as a reset after its presidential election defeat, has stalled after being delayed at the request of Szymon Hołownia, the Speaker of the Sejm and leader of Polska 2050, a centrist party now in turmoil.
The delay is more than a scheduling change. It reveals the deeper fragility of the pro-European coalition that took power in late 2023 to oust the nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS).
The immediate trigger was the revelation that Hołownia, whose political fortunes have collapsed after a dismal showing in the presidential race, had secretly met PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński late at night at the home of a party fixer, angering his coalition partners and even many in his own party.
The reshuffle, intended to show unity and momentum after the coalition’s candidate, Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, narrowly lost June’s presidential election, has now been postponed.
The shift from 15 July, the anniversary of Poland’s medieval victory over the Germanic Tuetonic Knights at Grunwald, to 22 July, a date long associated with communist rule, has drawn ridicule and raised questions about the government’s direction.
At the centre is Hołownia: discredited, blamed for delaying the reset, and scrambling to reassert authority over his fracturing party.
Without Polska 2050, the coalition would lose its slim parliamentary majority, but with Hołownia damaged and distracted, the coalition’s ability to govern looks increasingly uncertain.
The delayed reshuffle is now a test of whether the government can hold together as a pro-EU bloc, while a radicalised nationalist right prepares for a comeback.
The background
The current governing coalition was formed after the October 2023 parliamentary elections, uniting four disparate forces: Civic Coalition (KO), the liberal-centrist bloc led by former European Council president Donald Tusk; Polska 2050, a centrist movement led by former TV presenter Szymon Hołownia; the agrarian Polish People’s Party (PSL); and The Left, an alliance of progressive parties.
Their overriding purpose was to remove PiS, the nationalist-conservative party that had dominated Polish politics since 2015.
But beyond that goal, the coalition was fragile from the start. It stretched from the pro-LGBT left to the socially conservative agrarians, sharing few common policies and dependent on careful balancing.
A rotational arrangement was even agreed for senior posts: Hołownia took the speakership of the Sejm lower house, but agreed to hand it to The Left’s Włodzimierz Czarzasty after two years.
Poland’s presidency, meanwhile, remained in the hands of PiS-backed incumbent Andrzej Duda, who repeatedly vetoed coalition legislation throughout 2024, blocking measures on abortion rights, media oversight, and judicial reform.
Many within the coalition privately admitted that they never developed a shared legislative programme beyond “normalisation” after PiS rule and improving relations with Brussels.
After Rafał Trzaskowski’s defeat in the June presidential election, the coalition appeared rudderless. The loss removed what had been expected to be the key to unlocking stalled legislation and gave the nationalist opposition a psychological boost.
This fragility is reflected in the flood of off-the-record briefings and anonymous comments that have proliferated in Polish media in recent days.
One Civic Coalition figure summed up the mood to Onet journalist Kamil Dziubka: “We look like we’ve lost control. People will kill us with laughter if we can’t even manage a reshuffle properly.”
The reshuffle plan
Prime Minister Donald Tusk had long promised a reshuffle as the government’s response to the election loss and as a way to regain momentum after months of legislative gridlock and declining approval ratings.
Though the precise details of the reshuffle have been shrouded in secrecy, according to reports, Tusk proposed to reduce the number of ministers and deputy ministers by around 20%, and consolidate overlapping ministries.
The sprawling portfolios for economy, energy, climate policy, and state assets were to be merged into two powerful “super-ministries.”
Beyond the technical details, this reshuffle was supposed to create a smaller, tighter government sending a message of competence.
The political goal
But there was a second, more delicate goal. Tusk wanted to draw all coalition leaders into shared executive responsibility. His goal was to bring Hołownia and The Left’s leader, Włodzimierz Czarzasty, into cabinet as ministers, binding them more tightly to government decisions, sharing successes and failures.
This plan ran into immediate friction. Czarzasty made clear he had no interest in taking a government post, preferring to focus on becoming Sejm Speaker when Hołownia’s two-year term ended, as agreed in the coalition pact.
Hołownia, too, resisted. Becoming a cabinet minister would mean leaving the Speaker’s chair, an office that gives him visibility without requiring executive responsibility.
The reshuffle was due to be unveiled on 15 July, a date heavy with Polish symbolism: the anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald, a medieval victory that looms large in national mythology as a moment of unity and triumph.
The political hand grenade
The reshuffle plans were gathering momentum when media reports revealed that Szymon Hołownia had met secretly with PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński in the early hours of Friday, July 4.
The news landed like a bombshell: a senior figure in Poland’s ruling, pro-European coalition had quietly met, behind closed doors and after dark, with the architect of the nationalist opposition the coalition was formed to oppose.
Some political insiders speculated that Hołownia was manoeuvring to keep his Speaker’s position past November.
Others suggested that Hołownia may have been discussing the possibility of leading a short-term "technical government" backed by PiS, potentially replacing Donald Tusk.
Another theory was that the meeting served to ensure that Hołownia would convene the National Assembly on August 6 and swear in President-elect Karol Nawrocki, which Hołownia duly did days later.
Hołownia responded the following day, dismissing the controversy as "a wave of hysteria." In a statement, he defended his action as normal politics: "I’m one of the few politicians in Poland who regularly talks with both camps,” framing the meeting as “a duty.”
But inside the coalition, the damage was done. As Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz put it: "In politics, you need to make clear whose side you’re on. Talking to Kaczyński at that hour isn’t normal consultation."
Magdalena Biejat, Deputy Speaker of the Senate and a leader of The Left, added: "Meetings at night with Bielan or Kaczyński are absolutely unacceptable in the current climate."
The delay
When Donald Tusk first announced plans for a reshuffle in late June, his team set 15 July as the target date.
By the second week of July, hopes that the reshuffle could be announced by then were faltering. Szymon Hołownia’s political position had deteriorated rapidly following his meeting with Kaczyński.
Hołownia’s credibility was damaged, his party was fracturing, and his personal authority as Speaker was under intense scrutiny from both coalition partners and his own MPs.
Within days of the scandal, Hołownia suspended MP Tomasz Zimoch for public criticism and saw MP Izabela Bodnar resign altogether, citing his actions as harmful to coalition unity.
At a press conference, Hołownia scolded dissatisfied members: "If you want to leave, come to me with your papers, put them on the table, and look me in the eye. Don’t create a stink through the media."
On 8 July, Hołownia formally requested that the reshuffle be delayed by one week, from 15 July to 22 July, citing the need to "put his house in order" inside Polska 2050.
Echoes from history
The choice of the new date immediately drew derision and symbolism-laden mockery. For Poles of older generations, July 22 is remembered not as a moment of victory but as the anniversary of the 1944 Manifesto of the Polish Committee of National Liberation, marking the establishment of Poland’s communist regime.
Throughout the communist period, it was celebrated as a major state holiday and used to legitimise Soviet-backed rule.
The irony of a fragile, pro-European government holding its much-hyped reset on 22 July was not lost on critics.
Michał Wójcik of PiS posted sarcastically on social media: "Reconstruction of the government created on 13 December [the anniversary of martial law] to be done on 22 July [the communist anniversary]. No coincidences."
Marcelina Zawisza, an MP from the far left Razem, also mocked the government’s timing: "If they can’t even see the symbolism of this date, no government spokesperson will be able to save them."
The reshuffle, once framed as a demonstration that the post-PiS government could renew itself and deliver effective leadership, is now being interpreted as an attempt simply to hold itself together.
The outlook
The government now faces three challenges: an emboldened opposition, turbocharged by an increasingly likely accommodation with the far-right Confederation alliance; an incoming PiS-aligned president, Karol Nawrocki, whose veto will frustrate legislative efforts; and rising doubts within its own ranks about whether it can hold together through the next two years.
Polska 2050, once promoted as the fresh centrist alternative to both PiS and Civic Coalition, now looks like a political liability rather than a partner.
Hołownia built his appeal around rejecting Poland’s political duopoly, offering a centrist alternative. After his horse trading meeting with Kaczyńśki, his credibility in this regard has been shattered.
Meanwhile, the delay itself has eroded the reshuffle’s symbolic power. Instead of showing command, it has exposed how fragile the coalition really is.
For Poland’s international partners, especially in the EU, these developments matter. Poland had presented itself as returning fully to the European mainstream after PiS’s nationalist turn between 2015 and 2023.
In the end, the reshuffle may succeed in reconfiguring ministries. But it cannot resolve the deeper question of whether this coalition can behave like a government or go down in history as nothing more than a temporary alliance forged to remove PiS.
A version of this article first appeared at TVP World