Polish President Andrzej Duda asked conservative PiS politician Mateusz Morawiecki on Monday evening to try to form a government. The national conservative Law and Justice party won the most votes in the October 15 election, but lost its absolute majority in Parliament. In contrast, the three pro-European parties that are behind opposition leader Donald Tusk does have a majority. President Duda,however, said even before the elections that he would give the largest party the right to try to form a government first. “After a calm analysis and consultations, I have asked Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to form a government,” said Duda, who is an ally of PiS, on television late Monday. If Morawiecki fails to form a government by November 27, someone else will be asked to try, and Tusk has a majority list of ministers ready. After the election, Tusk was expected to be asked to form a government, as there is a clear majority behind him. He has promised, among other things, to secure his country’s EU funds quickly by ending a dispute with Brussels over the Rule of Law.
Polish hauliers blocked three major border crossings between Poland and Ukraine on Monday, according to AFP. Several trucks parked at the border crossing in Dorohusk, which has stopped most freight traffic. According to the protesters, the protest is due to unfair competition between Poland and Ukraine. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU eased a number of permits so that Ukrainian hauliers could take part in the European market. According to the protesters, this has brought a flood of Ukrainian hauliers into the Polish market, affecting competition and lowering Polish hauliers’ profits. “The prices they charge to service a truck or hire a driver are much lower than ours. They force prices down and take the goods we used to transport,” Marek Oklinski, owner of a Polish transport company, told AFP. /ritzau/
