Kalemba out, Sawicki in?
22:49
Poland's Agriculture Minister Stanisław Kalemba (PSL) announced his resignation on Thursday. His decision stems from the recent discovery of African swine fever cases among wild boar in eastern Poland. This resulted in sharp decline of the prices of pork
Kalemba cited “failure to realize provisions adopted at the Council of Ministers on February 25,” meaning lack of measures aimed at containing the effects of the disease discovery.
According to government’s spokesperson, Małgorzata Kidawa-Blońska the official letter of resignation did not reach the PM office yet, but agreed that “Minister Kalemba did not handle the crisis on the pork market particularly well.”
His successor will most likely be another junior coalition politician Marek Sawicki, who has already said that he has received an offer to takeover the post from PSL party leader and deputy PM Janusz Piechociński.
Sawicki was the agriculture minister between 2007-2012. He had to resign from his post after daily Puls Biznesu revealed the contents of a recording of a conversation between Władysław Serafin, a top member of PSL, and Władysław Łukasik, a former head of the Agency of Agricultural Market Development, both associates of Mr Sawicki. In the recording, the former ARR head discusses actions taken by people in the agency, including possible embezzlement of state companies, irregularities in the management of financing for agricultural projects and pressure to employ selected individuals in various agricultural agencies.
