What next for ruling Civic Platform?

Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka

Following the announcement at the weekend that Prime Minister Donald Tusk will become the next president of the European Council, questions are being raised as to the future of the ruling Civic Platform party ahead of next year’s general election.

As John Beauchamp reports, a number of names are also shortlisted for Tusk’s successor, but will they have the clout to take the ruling party into the next election and secure a good result in the polls?

Two names have been making the rounds so far: parliamentary speaker Ewa Kopacz, who was formerly a health minister in Donald Tusk’s first government, as well as Tomasz Siemoniak, currently defence minister.

The government press spokeswoman, Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, said on Tuesday that the next prime minister “will be announced in September”.

We speak to The Guardian’s Remi Adekoya as well as Grzegorz Lewicki, a journalist at the Wprost weekly and expert at the Pulaski Foundation, a think-tank, about what we can expect from centre-right Civic Platform in the run-up to next year’s all-important general election after Tusk leaves for Brussels.