President Andrzej Duda appointed two new ministers. Robert Telus became the head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, replacing Henryk Kowalczyk. Janusz Cieszyński became the Minister of Digitization. So far, this function has been held by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
On Thursday afternoon at the Presidential Palace, the president Andrzej Duda changed the composition of the Council of Ministers.
He replaced Henryk Kowalczyk as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development PiS MP Robert Telusthe current chairman of the parliamentary committee on agriculture and rural development.
At the same time, Kowalczyk was appointed the vice-president of the Council of Ministers.
Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister and government plenipotentiary for cybersecurity Janusz Cieszyński became the new minister of digitization. Until now, this office was held by the prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
Resignation of the Minister of Agriculture, return of the Ministry of Digitization
The change in the position of the head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is related to resignation of Henryk Kowalczyk. He announced his resignation on Wednesday, April 5. In the statement he made, he said that he was resigning in connection with farmers’ protests about the sudden influx of Ukrainian grain. – I resigned from the function of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, seeing that the basic postulate of farmers by the European Commission will not be met – said Kowalczyk.
As he added in a statement, the EC published a draft extension of duty-free and quota-free imports of cereals from Ukraine for the next year, which is to apply from June this year to June 5, 2024.
The digitization ministry was liquidated in October 2020. Then, pursuant to a regulation of the Council of Ministers, the existing employees of the Ministry of Digitization from the IT department were included in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki became the Minister of Digitization.
As announced on Thursday, April 6, 2023, President Andrzej Duda, the Ministry of Digitization will again be separated as a separate office, and its management is to be taken over by Janusz Cieszyński.