President Nawrocki ready to discuss ambassadors only with PM Tusk — Interia

Polish President Karol Nawrocki said he is ready for talks on the long-running dispute over ambassadorial appointments, but his interlocutor must be Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He said he is not prepared to discuss the matter with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, as such talks, in his view, would be meaningless.

Nawrocki said this in an interview with the newspaper Rzeczpospolita, Interia reports. The president added that he would not request a meeting himself, but through the interview he is sending the prime minister a clear signal: he is ready to return to the agreements if Tusk wants this.

Talks with Sikorski

Nawrocki said he held two substantive meetings with Sikorski during which, according to him, the sides agreed on a roadmap for overcoming the crisis. He claims that each side made certain concessions, and that the agreement was to cover important European capitals and other key foreign diplomatic missions. The president also said that parity between the government and the president was envisaged in matters of specific personnel appointments.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

At the same time, he stated that he would not sign ambassadorial appointments until the issue is resolved systematically. Nawrocki also said that Sikorski had not resolved this problem during the presidency of Andrzej Duda.

Dispute over diplomatic missions

The dispute between Poland's Foreign Ministry and the president over ambassadorial appointments has lasted for more than two years. In March 2024, Sikorski decided to end the missions of more than 50 ambassadors and withdraw more than a dozen candidacies submitted by the ministry's previous leadership. Duda stressed at the time that an ambassador cannot be appointed or recalled without the president's signature.

To replace diplomats who had left their posts but had not formally been recalled by the president, the Foreign Ministry sent diplomats with the rank of chargés d'affaires. Nawrocki, in particular, opposes the appointment as ambassadors of Bogdan Klich, who heads Poland's diplomatic mission in Washington, and Ryszard Schnepf, Poland's chargé d'affaires in Italy. Under the law on foreign service, ambassadors are appointed and recalled by the president upon a motion from the foreign minister approved by the prime minister.