POLAND’S ruling right-wing coalition sealed a fresh deal today, quelling tensions over a cabinet reshuffle and a controversial animal rights bill that had raised the risk of a minority government or snap elections.

But the details of the deal between the dominant Law and Justice (PiS) party and its two junior coalition parties were not made public.

It remained unclear whether powerful PiS party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski would formally join the government, a move that some senior PiS party leaders have suggested is in the cards to discipline junior partners.

“We have three years ahead of us until the next parliamentary elections,” Kaczynski told reporters in Warsaw before signing the new coalition deal with the leaders of two junior parties.

He was echoed by PiS Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who can rely on a narrow 235-seat majority in the 460-member lower house.

“We have a stable government, we have a stable parliamentary majority, we have a programme. We are entering the next phase of our programme for the good of Polish citizens, for the good of Poland,” Morawiecki said, speaking alongside Kaczynski.

The PiS had risked leading a minority government or snap elections after coalition MPs broke ranks last week over the adoption of a controversial animal rights bill drafted by Kaczynski.

The crisis came amid high-stakes negotiations between the PiS and its coalition partners, the United Poland (SP) and the Agreement party, over a cabinet reshuffle.

Tensions flared after the PiS threatened to halve the number of ministries its partners control. 

Ultra-conservative SP party leader Zbigniew Ziobro, currently the justice minister, is in a power struggle with the more moderate Morawiecki, according to analysts.

He is also seen as the motor behind a string of controversial judicial reforms that have put Poland at loggerheads with the European Union over concerns the changes undermine the rule of law.

The PiS-led coalition government won its second consecutive four-year term in October last year on the back of a raft of welfare measures coupled with attacks on LGBT rights and Western values. – AFP, September 26, 2020.