Sejm: A day of two prime ministers

Prime Minister Morawiecki did not say much about health care. He boasted about the increase in health outlays to a percentage of GDP that Poland has not yet seen, and announced further increases in outlays - provided, of course, that the Sejm grants a vote of confidence to his government. He failed to mention that this percentage he boasts about - that is, the 6 percent of GDP achieved and even exceeded by a huge margin in 2023 (in fact, close to 7 percent) is solely due to the methodology used to relate current spending to GDP two years ago, because in real terms outlays have been hovering around 5 percent all along.

Morawiecki also promised that in the third term of the Law and Justice government, he would do everything to ensure that accessibility to health services (medical appointments and examinations, he said) would significantly improve, "become a standard." He also announced a further increase in the number of places training future doctors.

Part of the promises concerned demographic problems - Law and Justice recognized, after eight years, the problem with the demographic collapse and admitted that one of the reasons could be the procreation problems of couples who want to have a child. Morawiecki had already talked about a "parental voucher" or procreation voucher a few weeks ago, and confirmed it in the expose as well: married couples (PiS definitely wants to support fertility only for couples in formalized unions, which resounded strongly during the work on the law reinstating IVF financing from the state budget) would be given a voucher with which they could finance the infertility treatment method of their choice.

After several hours of discussion, which was dominated by questions from Law and Justice (PiS) deputies - aimed at dismissing the inevitable, the Sejm made a decision: the government of Mateusz Morawiecki did not receive a vote of confidence. It did not even receive 100 percent support from his club, as three PiS deputies, including the leader of Sovereign Poland Zbigniew Ziobro, did not take part in the vote (instead, Kukiz'15 deputies voted for the government in full). The entire opposition, including the Confederation, voted against.

Following the collapse of Morawiecki's government, the Sejm is moving to the next constitutional step, in which it will name a candidate for prime minister. The Sejm majority backed Donald Tusk, who will deliver an expose on Tuesday morning and after another debate the Sejm will pass a vote of confidence for his government. Representatives of the Law and Justice Party, the Confederation and Kukiz'15 voted against. The procedure for appointing the new government ends with the swearing in by the president, which will most likely take place on Wednesday morning. Immediately after that, the new ministers - including a certain candidate for the health ministry, Izabela Leszczyna - will begin to fulfill their duties.