Law and Justice (PiS)

Poland's president on Wednesday swore in Donald Tusk as the new pro-EU prime minister, putting an end to eight years of right-wing populist rule.

The ministers of the new administration were successively sworn in by the conservative head of state, who is allied with the previous government of the Law and Justice (PiS) party.

Expectations for Poland's pro-EU government which is due to take power next week are sky-high but current ruling nationalists will still be a powerful and influential opposition, analysts say.

The central bank governors of Poland and Hungary are caught up in noisy disputes with opponents over their rate-setting policy, raising new hazards for investors willing to brave central Europe's bitterly polarized politics.

Polish President Andrzej Duda arrives at the Opening Session of the 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe at the Harpa Conference Center in Reykjavik, Iceland, 16 May 2023. EPA-EFE/Leszek Szymanski

Justyna Wydrzynska is found guilty in a Warsaw court of helping 'Annie' terminate her pregnancy by giving her misoprostol and is sentenced to eight months of community service. Photo: Aborcyjny Dream Team

In Poland, there are two types of premises for asylum seekers and people who have entered the country illegally: open centres such as refugee hostels; and detention camps like the one Rosa is stuck in, which look like high-security prisons complete with bars on the windows and barbed-wire fences topped with surveillance equipment.

Citing heavy dependence, those countries in June secured an exemption from the EU's Russian oil embargo - due to kick in at the end of the year - for imports delivered by the Druzhba pipeline. The route carries around 250,000 barrels per day to the region. Slovakia imports over 95 per cent of its oil through Druzhba, and sends processed fuels on to its neighbours.

"Obviously someone might disagree with us, and have left-wing views," Kaczynski said on June 25 at one of these meetings in Wloclawek, central Poland. "They may think that each one of us can at one point say that up until now, until this moment, until this hour - it's now about 5:30 - I was a man, and from now on I am a woman."

On the one hand, over the past few years social security and tax contributions for one-person businesses like those run by Suska and most of his colleagues at the bazaar have increased by a few hundred euros monthly.

"I have always supported the V4 and I am very sorry that cheap Russian oil is more important to Hungarian politicians than Ukrainian blood. #SlavaUkraini," she tweeted.

The Czech defence minister added that with elections in Hungary imminent, "it is not right for me to take part in the campaign".