Sikorski says President Nawrocki personally pressed ambassadors to resign

Sikorski's correction

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski told reporters at the Sejm on Monday, 2 November, that President Karol Nawrocki had personally pressed ambassadors to give up their posts. He said he had earlier blamed the president's staff for that pressure and now needed to correct the remark. On Saturday, 31 October, Sikorski had told TVN24 that the ambassadors were being pressed by personnel close to the president. Asked where his information came from, he said the ministry itself held that knowledge. He also said that pressing Polish ambassadors to resign is not a role the president may legitimately play.

“I thought it was the president's staff who pressed ambassadors to resign from their posts and abandon their missions. It turned out the president himself did it.”

Two resignations

Two Polish ambassadors have stepped down over the situation at the Constitutional Tribunal: Jakub Kumoch, ambassador to China, and Paweł Soloch, ambassador to Romania. Soloch announced on Saturday, 31 October, that he had resigned, describing his decision as a reaction to an attempt to take over the tribunal in breach of the law. He said he had informed both the foreign minister and the president of his decision. Kumoch also resigned, and the coverage links his departure to the same dispute over the tribunal.

Disputed diplomatic note

Former president Andrzej Duda told Kanał Zero that Kumoch had been unwilling to follow a diplomatic note that the government wanted to use to explain the chaos at the tribunal. A foreign ministry spokesperson denied that any such document exists. Sikorski did not point to a specific document when asked about the source of his information, and the ministry's position stands in direct conflict with Duda's account. The two versions therefore remain unresolved in the coverage so far.

Judges, ambassadors and the limits of the presidency

Sikorski set out the division of powers in the Sejm, stressing that the Sejm, not the president, chooses the judges of the Constitutional Tribunal. He noted that he was speaking as a former speaker of the Sejm and that the president holds certain protocol roles in the state. He argued that these roles give the president no basis to govern Poland. The limits he described were explicit:

“The president may, at his own whim, award someone an order, grant someone Polish citizenship or pardon them, but he cannot choose judges and he cannot choose ambassadors.”

In his view, the same limit applies to the appointment and removal of ambassadors, which is the point on which he said he had corrected his earlier statement.