Polish President Nawrocki stepped up confrontation with Tusk’s government — Notes from Poland
In Poland, President Karol Nawrocki has, during his first year in office, turned the presidency into an active center of opposition to the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, according to the author of Notes from Poland. Nawrocki, who was backed by the right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS), defeated Civic Coalition candidate and Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski in the May–June 2025 election.
His victory ushered in tense coexistence between the president and Tusk’s government. Although Poland’s president does not manage the state on a day-to-day basis, he has the right to veto laws and refer them to the Constitutional Tribunal. The government does not have the three-fifths parliamentary majority required to override a presidential veto.
Vetoes and presidential initiatives
The author writes that by mid-2026, Nawrocki had blocked more than 40 laws supported by the government, including those concerning judicial reform, socioeconomic policy and defense financing. This significantly complicated the government’s plans to reverse judicial reforms from the PiS period in power and carry out personnel changes.
At the same time, not all of the president’s instruments proved effective. His legislative initiatives and proposals for referendums stalled in parliament. The idea of using the Cabinet Council — a formal government meeting chaired by the president — to oversee the executive branch’s activities also failed to produce the expected effect.
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Foreign policy and the right wing
In foreign policy, Nawrocki emphasized ties with the United States and relations with Donald Trump’s administration. In the author’s view, this helped preserve commitments to station U.S. troops in Poland, although the president’s initiatives sometimes diverged from the government’s approach or complicated it.
Regarding Ukraine, Nawrocki supports continued military and diplomatic assistance but opposes the country’s rapid accession to the EU and NATO until bilateral issues are resolved. He also said he intended to strip Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of a Polish state award because of unresolved historical disputes. Such steps were criticized for potentially weakening regional unity.
The author also calls Nawrocki an important potential unifier of Poland’s right-wing forces ahead of the parliamentary elections in autumn 2027. PiS is competing with Confederation and the ultranationalist Confederation of the Polish Crown, and it has also experienced an internal split involving politicians associated with former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
Tusk’s government, for its part, presents the frequent presidential vetoes as an obstacle to Poland’s defense readiness and coordination with allies. As an example, it cited Nawrocki’s veto of legislation that was meant to give Poland access to €43.7 billion under the EU’s SAFE defense initiative. The president explained his position by citing the risk of substantial long-term debt and weakened Polish sovereignty.
