Seeking to break a damaging standoff, President Karol Nawrocki called on Prime Minister Donald Tusk to validate the long-postponed picks for the central bank's board of management. The president's chief of staff, Pawel Szefernaker, told reporters on Friday that the board would only be able to keep operating beyond early November if the premier authorizes at least one nominee.
These appointments require sign-off from both the president and the prime minister. Tusk is Nawrocki's political rival, and without his approval the board risks falling short of the legal minimum.
The president will send four candidates for the prime minister's approval: Marta Kightley, a former deputy governor, plus three sitting members of the Monetary Policy Council - Ludwik Kotecki, Marcin Zarzecki and Przemyslaw Litwiniuk. It is the same lineup Tusk rejected earlier this year.
The clock is ticking because the term of Adam Lipinski - the last member needed to preserve the quorum - expires on Nov. 4. Should the board fall under the legally mandated six members, the central bank could find itself unable to react effectively during crises. A government spokesman, Adam Szlapka, did not respond to a request for comment.
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Parallel to the board dispute is a confrontation centered on Governor Adam Glapinski. The ruling coalition aims to bring him to trial on accusations of political interference. Glapinski has rejected any wrongdoing.
"Both the central bank's management board and the governor may simultaneously lose their constitutional independence," Szefernaker said.
The key marker is whether at least one nominee gets approved before Nov. 4, because dropping below six board members would risk the bank's ability to respond in crisis situations. That institutional capacity is the backbone of policy predictability investors depend on.
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