Radosław Sikorski handed the ambassador nomination Agnieszka Bartol. Is this the end of the dispute with the president?

Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski handed Agnieszka Bartol the first nomination whose ambassador status was confirmed by the president's signature. The Foreign Affairs spokesman Paweł Wroński estimated that “this is to be a breakthrough” regarding the dispute over the ambassador nominations.

The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski On Tuesday, he handed the ambassador nomination Agnieszka Bartol, who will take the position of a permanent representative of the Republic of Poland at the European Union. Sikorski emphasized that he was glad that it was Bartol that could donate the first ambassador nomination.

“You are the first woman holding a permanent office, a representative of the Republic of Poland at the EU,” he wrote. He called Bartol “an expert, patriot, diplomat.”

“This is to be a breakthrough”

A Foreign Affairs spokesman Paweł Wroński, asked if the nomination for Bartol is a breakthrough in relations with the Presidential Palace regarding the Ambassador nomination, replied: – This is to be a breakthrough. – This is the first person who was nominated, whose ambassador status was confirmed by the president's signature – emphasized the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He added that there is another group of diplomats who – as announced by the president Andrzej Duda and his surroundings – they are to receive permission to take up the positions of new ambassadors. Wroński, asked how much people go, replied that a dozen or so.

– We hope (that there will be them – ed.) As much as possible, because there is a bit of a sense to somehow weaken the position of Polish diplomacy in a severe, uncertain period. We are waiting very much for the implementation of these announcements, because it will serve Poland – said the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

After a year, the president considers the ambassador applications

At the beginning of April, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski informed that after a year of delay, the first applications for a countersignate of the ambassador nomination were received from the prime minister's office after a year of delay. Also the head of the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland Małgorzata Paprocka said at the beginning of April that they were awaiting the consent of Prime Minister Donald Tusk for ambassadors, including in Israel and at OECD i NATOi.e. Maciej Huni, Jan Vincent Rostowski and Jacek Najder. She also informed about the nomination signed by the President for Bartol.

President Diana Głownia spokeswoman reported that the foreign service convention would consider subsequent candidates that obtained the President's preliminary consent. She also said that the president on March 31 “signed one decision on the appointment, while 18 projects of resolutions in matters of appointment of ambassadors are waiting for the countersignate of the Prime Minister.”

The reports of “Gazeta Wyborcza” showed that the president was to agree to the previously blocked nominations for ambassadors, including: Małgorzata Kosiura-Kaźmierska (Norway), Michał Cholewy (Kuwait), Artur Orzechowski (Estonia), Michał Murkociński (Egypt and Eritrea), Tadeusz Chomicki (Singapore), Jolanta Janek (Panama, neighboring Latin American countries, Haiti and Dominican Republic).

The Constitution provides that the president appoints and dismisses representatives of the Republic of Poland in other countries and with international organizations. The Act on foreign service says that the ambassador is appointed and dismissed by the president at the request of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, accepted by the prime minister. The Minister of Foreign Affairs before the application of the application consists of the Convention of Foreign Service. The Convention includes: Minister of Foreign Affairs or the indicated representative as chairman, head of foreign service, representative of the Chancellery of the President and a representative of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister.

A dispute about ambassadors

The dispute between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and President Duda for the appointment of ambassadors from March 2024. Sikorski decided that over 50 ambassadors would end the mission, and several candidates submitted for approval by the previous management of the ministry will be withdrawn. However, the president emphasized that “no Polish ambassador can be appointed or dismissed without the president's signature.”

In place of the ambassadors who left the institutions, but were not formally dismissed by the president, the diplomats indicated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who, due to the conflict, have no status of ambassadors, but Charge d'Affaires – this situation occurs, for example, in the USA, where the former head of the Ministry of National Defense in the PO -PSL government, Bogdan Klich, replaced Marek Magierowski. President Duda has repeatedly made it clear that he did not consider Klich as an appropriate person as an ambassador in the USA.