Without an agreement with the President, Radosław Sikorski recalled the Polish Ambassador to NATO, Tomasz Szatkowski, and our Ambassador to Italy, Anna Maria Anders. In addition to them, our ambassadors in Latvia, Monika Michaliszyn, and in Peru, Prof. Antonina Magdalena Śniadecka-Kotarska. The information was provided by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Paweł Wroński.
Ambassador Anders ends her mission on May 31 and returns to the country. This group includes a representative to NATO and ambassadors in Peru and Latvia
– Paweł Wroński told PAP.
The resignation of Ambassador Tomasz Szatkowski on the eve of the NATO summit organized in Washington is negatively assessed by President Andrzej Duda. Ministers and advisors from his cabinet have spoken about it many times.
Ambassador Szatkowski is the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Poland to NATO and will serve in this position until the President dismisses him. This is an absurd situation and therefore it will not happen. The president will not fire Ambassador Szatkowski before the NATO summit
– said Mieszko Pawlak, head of the President’s International Policy Office, four days ago.
READ ALSO: ONLY WITH US. Try to remove the ambassador. Pawlak: The situation is absurd. The president will not fire Szatkowski before the NATO summit
The government ignores procedures and the president
In March, the Foreign Ministry announced that Minister Radosław Sikorski had decided that more than fifty ambassadors would end their missions, and that several candidates submitted for approval by the ministry’s previous management would be withdrawn. By law, the ambassador is appointed and dismissed by the president. The head of the President’s Office, Marcin Mastalerek, then stated that Andrzej Duda does not agree with the large-scale recall of ambassadors without specific grounds or reasons. The reference to the country of Ambassador Tomasz Szatkowski, who on the Polish side is preparing for the NATO summit in Washington, is particularly scandalous.
No attempt was made to reach an agreement. These are the decisions of the President and the fact that the government nominates a candidate does not mean that such a person will be appointed
– said Presidential Minister Małgorzata Paprocka a week ago.
READ ALSO: Government pressure to change Poland’s ambassador to NATO. Presidential Minister: No attempt has been made to reach an agreement
Tomasz Szatkowski has been the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Poland to NATO since 2019. Previously, from the end of 2015, he was Deputy Minister of Defense responsible for Foreign Affairs. On Sunday, the website of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Poland to NATO contained information that the acting head of the facility is Dominik P. Jankowski, Szatkowski’s current deputy.
On May 23, the Sejm Foreign Affairs Committee gave a positive opinion on Jacek Najder’s candidacy for ambassador to NATO. Most recently, in the years 2011-2016, he headed this institution and also became Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs at a time when the government of Donald Tusk and Radosław Sikorski implemented the “reset” policy towards Russia. President Duda announced that he would not sign this nomination. He emphasized that that this candidacy has not been consulted with him and that he has not accepted it, which he considers a violation of the current procedure. According to the president, the resignation of the current ambassador to NATO, Tomasz Szatkowski, just before the NATO summit in Washington in July, could disrupt preparations for this event.
READ ALSO: Poboży confirms the findings of the wPolityce portal. ‘Creating a new conflict zone with the president. “Tusk has a tragic experience here.”
Presidential Minister Wojciech Kolarski commented on Szatkowski’s case on Radio Zet on Sunday.
Security issues must unite us. They must go beyond party conflicts. That is why it is bad if there is no understanding on the part of the government, for example if Ambassador Szatkowski is withdrawn from Brussels.
– said Kolarski and also criticized the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration, Tomasz Siemoniak, for words about information that discredited Szatkowski.
Undermining the credibility of the Polish representative in an organization that guarantees our security is simply stupid
– said the presidential minister.
Anna Maria Anders, in turn, has been ambassador to Italy and San Marino since September 2019. From 2016 she was Senator for Law and Justice. In the years 2016-2019, she was chairman of the Council for the Protection of the Memory of Struggle and Martyrdom and State Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office as a representative for international dialogue. She is the daughter of General Władysław Anders.
READ ALSO: OUR NEWS. The government is trying to bypass the president in appointing the next ambassador! ‘This is a shame for Poland internationally’
koal/porridge
Source: wPolityce
Emma Matthew is a political analyst for “Social Bites”. With a keen understanding of the inner workings of government and a passion for politics, she provides insightful and informative coverage of the latest political developments.