Polish PM plays down talk of Cabinet reshuffle

Speaking during a visit to the US, Szydło said an upcoming Cabinet meeting would sum up her government’s six-month spell in office.

"Each of us, including me, will be assessed. We will have to account for how we work and what we are doing," she said.

Reporters asked Szydło about whether Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski could be shifted to the European Parliament to replace Polish MEP Janusz Wojciechowski.

EU ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday approved Wojciechowski, an MEP for PiS, as a member of the European Court of Auditors.

In elections to the European Parliament in 2014, Waszczykowski was runner-up to Wojciechowski, scoring the second best result on PiS’s list for the central Łódź region.

The foreign minister has said he would prefer to remain in his current post.

'It's not the media that changes the government'

Szydło told reporters: “I know that for several days there’s been debate in the media in Poland about possible changes in the government, but it is not the media that changes the government.

"Decisions about any changes are taken by the head of the government, based on their assessment of the situation."

Law and Justice leader Jarosław Kaczyński sparked speculation of a reshuffle with a recent interview for Poland’s w Sieci weekly.

He told the paper: "The government must be tightly-knit, must think in terms of common objectives. These problems in ministries, which – to be honest – exist in the government, must be dealt with with a firm hand.

“There was recently a meeting in the government aiming to do that.” (pk)

Source: PAP