Jarosław Gowin Courtesy of the Justice Ministry

As WBJ was going to press, Prime Minister Donald Tusk was set to announce the fate of Justice Minister Jarosław Gowin, the presumed leader of a conservative faction in the ruling Civic Platform party that has scuppered a number of the prime minister’s plans.

Last week, Paweł Graś, the government’s spokesperson, wrote on his Twitter account that on Monday, March 4, Mr Tusk would decide on Mr Gowin’s future in the government. To this, Mr Gowin tweeted: “I don’t like Mondays.”

Speculation has been rife regarding Mr Gowin’s fate in the government ever since a January parliamentary debate on civil unions, during which the justice minister openly defied the prime minister, calling Civic Platform’s legislative proposal on the issue “unconstitutional.”

Mr Tusk promptly rebuked Mr Gowin, saying the justice minister was simply expressing his personal opinion and not that of the government.

But that was not the first time Mr Gowin had stepped on the PM’s toes. The justice minister is often described as the leader of a strongly conservative faction in Civic Platform made up of anything from 40 to 50 MPs. This group becomes vocal any time a social issue such as abortion, in vitro fertilization or LGBT rights comes up on the parliamentary agenda.

The conservatives have, in the past, acted to torpedo any attempt to liberalize Poland’s laws governing social issues. This is a problem for Mr Tusk, who has always presented his party as a moderate, center-right, modernist party open to politicians of different views. Along with the staunchly conservative Mr Gowin and his followers, Civic Platform also includes left-leaning Health Minister Bartosz Arłukowicz and those who share his views.

Now some Civic Platform supporters are openly accusing the prime minister of having allowed the conservatives to set the tone in his party to the detriment of its more liberal electorate. Until now Mr Tusk had tolerated his recalcitrant minister, but his patience may have finally run out.

Remi Adekoya