In the spotlight: Stefan Meller

Meller is one of the several government Ministers that are not members of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party. A professional diplomat, he has been at odds of late with both the Prime Minister and the President over the control of Poland's foreign policy.

Traditionally, it was the Foreign Ministry that coordinated foreign policy, but following PiS' victory, President Kaczyński and Prime Minister Marcinkiewicz tried to divide the most important aspects of the Foreign Ministry's work between themselves, with the former concentrating on relations with the US and Russia, and the latter focusing on Europe. After Meller learned that he was omitted from a government delegation to Washington, he submitted his resignation. Meller later accompanied President Kaczyński during his visit to the US.

This is not the first time the Minster has disagreed with key PiS figures. Minister Meller wasn't nominated to the President's National Security Council (RBN), has openly disagreed with PiS' idea to cleanse the Foreign Ministry of people with any links to the communist system, and couldn't get the government to accept all his ambassadorial candidates.

The government seems to have papered over the cracks for the moment, with Meller now joining the RBN. However, rumor has it that the reason Meller is staying put is that PiS has no high-caliber candidates to replace him with. Meller is a former ambassador to France and the Russian Federation.