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Polish Defense, Foreign Ministers Dismissed

Poland's new prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, is carrying out a major reshuffle of his cabinet before negotiations with EU officials over possible sanctions on the country.
Sputnik

Poland's new prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki has dismissed Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski and National Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz, a Sputnik correspondent reported Tuesday.

READ MORE: Polish Finance Minister to Take Over As Prime Minister After Szydlo's Shock Exit

The prime minister submitted relevant decisions to President Andrzej Duda during a solemn government change ceremony in Warsaw. Waszczykowski and Macierewicz were not present at the ceremony, they left the presidential palace a few minutes before it started.

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Waszczykowski is replaced by former deputy State Secretary of the Interior Ministry Jacek Czaputowicz, while Macierewicz by former Interior Minister Mariusz Blaszczak. The Interior Ministry is now headed by former Deputy Speaker of the country's parliament Joachim Brudzinski.

Poland's President Andrzej Duda is due to take the oath from new ministers later on Tuesday.

The current recasting of the government comes after Poland's popular Prime Minister Beata Szydlo resigned in a shocking move amid major dispute escalating between the European Union and eurosceptic Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) over reforms of the Polish court system, logging in an ancient forest and the migrant relocation quota.

Szydlo was replaced by Mateusz Morawiecki, who started to reshape the cabinet in a bid to placate criticism from the European Union.

READ MORE: Polish PM Hopes Country's New Government Will Ease Tensions With Brussels

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The Cabinet reshuffle comes amid a major row between Poland and the EU. In December, the European Commission made a decision to bring legal action against Poland over the breach of the EU migration policy, as the country had repeatedly refused to take in migrants and thus failed to meet its obligations under the EU relocation scheme.

In November, the EU Parliament launched a mechanism for the application of sanctions by the European Union against Poland, as the country's controversial bills on judiciary reform represent "a clear risk of a serious breach" of European values and the rule of law.

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