Poland’s Ruling Party Selects New Prime Minister in Major Government Reshuffle

Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) has asked former Prime Minister Beata Szydlo to step aside and resign to be replaced by Foreign Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in order to prepare the party for upcoming elections.

For several days many have speculated that Ms Szydlo would be on her way out as Prime Minister of Poland and now that has been confirmed after she tended in her resignation Thursday evening, Die Welt reports.

Many within the party, which is led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, have called for the change in order to prepare the party for upcoming local elections in 2018, national elections in 2019, and a presidential race in 2019.

Ms Szydlo became Prime Minister in 2015 and has been able to lead the party to record popularity in the polls, making PiS the most popular party in Poland since the fall of communism. She has also been credited with pushing the party’s conservative, Christian agenda, along with several major reforms.

Szydlo will be replaced by Mateusz Morawiecki, a former banker, who as finance minister was able to raise tax revenues and fund popular child subsidy programmes. Morawiecki is also thought to have the full support of party leader Kaczynski.

Experts say it is likely that Morawiecki will continue the existing policies of PiS economically, and it is unlikely the country’s position against mass migration and the redistribution of asylum seekers will change. The European Union announced on Thursday that it would be suing Poland, along with the Czech Republic and Hungary, for not taking in redistributed migrants.

Critics of the government claim that the change of leadership is a distraction from a vote set to take place Friday that would see the ruling party exert far more power and influence over the judicial system.

Previous attempts judicial reform, which have been heavily pushed by Kaczynski, caused widespread criticism among elites within the EU, who threatened Poland’s EU voting rights over the issue.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com