Tusk Government Fast-Tracks 'CPN' Package to Lower Fuel Prices Before Easter

Poland's government fast-tracked emergency legislation to cut fuel prices by approximately 1.20 Polish zloty per liter, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk announcing the package — named CPN, or Ceny Paliwa Niżej — on March 26, 2026, as rising costs at petrol stations rattled Polish drivers and farmers ahead of the Easter holidays. The package combines three measures: a reduction of VAT on fuel from 23 percent to 8 percent, a cut in excise duty to the minimum level permitted under EU law, and the introduction of a temporary maximum retail price mechanism at petrol stations. The Sejm began processing the bills under an urgent procedure on the evening of March 26, with votes scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on March 27. The government attributed the price surge to market turmoil linked to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East involving the United States.

CPN Fuel Package — Key Changes: VAT on fuel (before: 23%, after: 8%); Excise duty (before: Standard national rate, after: EU minimum); Retail price (before: Unregulated, after: Temporary maximum price cap)

President signals he will sign — from the United States President Karol Nawrocki, who took office in August 2025, indicated through his associates that he would sign the legislation, including while traveling abroad for the CPAC conference in the United States, which he was scheduled to attend on Friday, March 27. Officials from the presidential chancellery set one condition for his signature: the bills must remain focused exclusively on fuel prices, with no unrelated legislative additions — referred to in Polish political parlance as "wrzutki," or riders. „We are waiting for specifics. If this will be a bill or bills simply reducing fuel prices and setting a maximum price, without any "wrzutki", then the president will sign the law. It's hard to expect any other decisions” — Karol Nawrocki associate via Do Rzeczy A separate associate confirmed that signing remotely posed no legal obstacle. „There is no problem at all; both laws and decisions can be signed remotely, so if the president wants to, there is no problem at all” — Karol Nawrocki associate via Do Rzeczy Energy Minister Miłosz Motyka said on the morning of March 27 that the legislation was on track to reach the president's desk that same day, meaning the first price cuts at fuel stations could be visible as early as that weekend.

Opposition backs cuts but accuses Tusk of a costly month-long delay The main opposition party, Law and Justice, announced it would support the fuel price legislation, but used the Sejm debate to attack the government over what it described as a prolonged failure to act. Przemysław Czarnek, a Law and Justice member of parliament, stated his party's position plainly.

„Law and Justice will support all decisions aimed at lowering fuel prices at petrol stations” — Przemysław Czarnek via NIEZALEZNA.PL

Fellow Law and Justice MP Zbigniew Kuźmiuk went further, accusing the government of deliberate inaction and estimating the cost of the delay at 2 billion Polish zloty for drivers and farmers combined. „Your delay has already cost all drivers, as well as farmers, as we estimated, about 2 billion zlotys. You have allowed Poles to be plundered for this month. As I understand it, you did it quite deliberately” — Zbigniew Kuźmiuk via NIEZALEZNA.PL Kuźmiuk also challenged the government's framing of the situation as an unprecedented crisis, noting that the price of a barrel of oil expressed in zloty currently stood at 350 to 400 zloty — compared to 500 to 600 zloty during the 2022 energy shock — yet fuel prices at the pump were at least one zloty per liter higher than in that earlier period. Law and Justice MEP Piotr Müller, speaking on Republika television before the Sejm session, described the government's response as "the turtle's pace."

2 billion (PLN) — Estimated cost of government's delay, per PiS MP Kuźmiuk

Tusk's political calculus: Easter timing and the "normal" voter Political commentators noted that the timing of the CPN package carried clear electoral logic, with the intervention arriving just before Easter — the period when millions of Poles travel across the country to visit family and fuel costs become a tangible household concern. Commentary published by Newsweek Polska described the move as "a simple, obvious move straight out of the political primer," arguing that Tusk had placed himself in a familiar role: a prime minister visibly responsive to the pressures facing ordinary citizens. The analysis noted that the governing coalition's primary goal was not to convert committed opponents, but to prevent less politically engaged voters — described as "normals" — from spending the holidays complaining that the government had done nothing. The commentary also observed that Law and Justice had itself failed to capitalize on the fuel price issue in the preceding weeks, with Czarnek's earlier calls for VAT cuts overshadowed by internal party disputes and unrelated controversies. The CPN package was described as temporary, explicitly linked to the duration of the Middle East conflict and its effects on global energy markets.

Poland introduced temporary fuel tax reductions during the 2022 energy crisis, when global energy prices surged following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The current CPN package echoes that earlier intervention, again combining VAT and excise duty cuts with retail price controls. The 2022 measures were also processed rapidly through the Sejm and were similarly framed as emergency responses to external market shocks. The current price surge is attributed to market disruption stemming from the US-led military conflict in the Middle East, which began in late February 2026.