Poland’s de facto leader recovering from ‘life-threatening situation’

Warsaw has admitted that Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the ruling national conservative party, is recovering from a “life-threatening situation” and not a knee injury as previously claimed.

Mr Kaczynski, head of the Law and Justice (PiS) party and seen by many as Poland’s de-facto ruler, was last seen in public in April and, according to his aides, had been suffering from arthritis in his knee.

The news has ramped up the succession stakes in Warsaw ahead of an EU summit looking at two red rags for the PiS leader: EU burden-sharing on migration and the rule of law in Poland.

Mr Kaczynski, who turns 69 on Monday, was released from hospital on June 8th after more than a month in treatment, according to the health minister Lukasz Szumowski.

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“Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s state of health was such that not accepting him to the hospital would have threatened his life, and therefore he was admitted in an acute manner,” said the minister in a radio interview.

Speculation

A government spokesman confirmed the information but declined to elaborate.

Speculation about Mr Kaczynski has been building, most recently after his absence from the unveiling of a monument to those who died in a 2010 plane crash, including his twin brother Lech, then Polish president.

As the speculation stakes ramp up, Kaczynski loyalists have acted fast to quash speculation, saying their “chairman is in full control … and not planning a political retirement”.

“All of those people dreaming about replacing Kaczynski will need a lot of patience,” said interior minister Joachim Brudzinski.

Judicial reforms

He is viewed by some as a potential successor to lead PiS, with one rival in prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki (49), a former banker and Irish honorary consul appointed prime minister in a January reshuffle.

On Monday Mr Morawiecki will meet European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans in Warsaw for talks on Polish judicial reforms, including an amendment that will force 40 per cent of supreme court justices into retirement next month.

Mr Morawiecki says he doesn’t expect “miracles” in the meeting “but we are trying to find at least some thin thread of agreement” in the long-running stand-off with Brussels.