Macierewicz aide resigns in turmoil

Bartłomiej Misiewicz, an assistant to Poland's defense minister resigned from the country's ruling party last week, after Law and Justice (PiS) party commission, formed to investigate his issue said that he did not have sufficient training or experience required for high state jobs. Misiewicz, a 27-year-old aide of Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz was named by the opposition as a symbol of PiS-led nepotism, which put the former pharmacy worker with no university education in a number of high ranking jobs ranging from the ministry spokesman to the board member of the biggest state-run defense company Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa (PGZ). The company’s bylaws state its board members must have college degrees, but the rules were changed to let Misiewicz join. Misiewicz said that his name was used in a “dirty campaign” against the party, which prompted him to offer his resignation so as “not to burden” the party and its policies. Media also reported, that back in March, while on a supposed leave from his ministry post, Misiewicz was awarded PLN 7,000 for “outstanding work and personal commitment to his duties.”