In the spotlight: Zdzisław Jan Ryn

Ryn's appointment in itself is unsurprising, as he has experience - he was an ambassador to Chile in the mid-1990s.

His connections, though, are less glamorous. Gazeta Wyborcza claims that it learned from various sources that Ryn's candidacy is being heavily supported by Radio Maryja's Father Tadeusz Rydzyk and the radio's sponsor and controversial millionaire, Jan Kobylański, who now lives in Uruguay.

Kobylański is accused by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) of betraying a Jewish family to the Gestapo during the Second World War. In 1952 he emigrated to Latin America and made a fortune by cooperating with Paraguay's then dictator, General Alfredo Stroessner. He was Poland's honorary consul to Uruguay before he was dismissed by Foreign Minister Władysław Bartoszewski for statements and opinions that broke with Polish foreign policy.

However, Poland cannot afford to be too picky when it comes to its diplomatic corps. Argentina is one of the many vacancies on the Polish diplomacy map. Currently, 16 Polish embassies are without an ambassador, including the Czech Republic, the UK (despite a massive influx of Polish immigrants), Greece, Belarus, South Korea, and there is also no Polish Ambassador to the EU. This last position, which has been vacant for a year, is detrimental to both Poland's image abroad and the country's ability to take part in the closed-door diplomacy which is an integral part of the Brussels political machine.