Autor fotografie: Kancelaria Prezydenta RP, GFDL 1.2|Popisek: Tomasz Siemoniak (right) in 2011
In Poland's elections, a grouping of three formations – the Civic Coalition, the Third Way and the Left – won a majority of 248 seats in the future Sejm. This is enough to take power in Poland. Law and Justice, with 194 MPs, will try to form a government but will probably have to go into opposition. The post of defence minister is one of the key issues.
In the past, the management of power ministries in Polish government coalitions has usually been claimed by the main ruling party, which in the complex coalition arithmetic should be true this time as well. The defence minister should therefore be the nominee of the strongest part of the Civic Coalition, i.e. from Donald Tusk's Civic Platform. Three names with government and parliamentary experience come to mind for this office: Tomasz Siemoniak, the defence minister from 2011 to 2015, who is the deputy chairman of the Civic Platform and has systematically devoted himself to defence issues as a deputy and member of the defence committee in the opposition for eight years in the Sejm.
Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, the founder of the Osrodek Studii Wschodnich security studies institute and the interior minister from 2013-2014, and Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska, the former education minister, could also become ministers. Even from within the Polish army, some of whom expressed dissatisfaction with the leadership of the Ministry of Defence before the elections, a candidate, Lieutenant General Miroslav Róźanski, is emerging. Since 1994, however, the leadership of the Ministry of Defence in Poland has been entrusted to civilians.
The preparation of the Civic Coalition's defence programme and the first post-election statements show that Tomasz Siemoniak is gradually occupying the public space and becoming the natural candidate. He has already won over the soldiers in his programme, where he promised a blanket control of promotions and appointments, specifying after the elections that there would be no purges, only checks on cases where there was apparent misconduct. The programme also included a promise to restore the seniority of all those who had unfairly lost it. Siemoniak, however, wants to immediately carry out an across-the-board review of all defence acquisitions, including tendering procedures, and compile a White Paper from them, which would become the basis for any changes to contracts already agreed.
In the case of Patriot batteries, whose acquisition has been started by the current government since 2018, Siemoniak said that it follows the earlier decision of the Civic Platform government in 2015 and will not change anything. Similarly, no changes can be expected in the Navy's modernization program. On the contrary, Siemoniak wants to significantly accelerate the purchase of helicopters, which he said the current government has not paid enough attention to, and start preparations for participation in the European Sky Shield anti-missile programme.
Siemoniak, who is aiming for the nomination, could be crossed by Szymon Holownia. One of the two leaders of the Third Way, the second strongest formation in the likely future government coalition, announced his intention before the elections. However, his relationship with the army and the security community is only indirect. His wife is a professional soldier - a fighter pilot.
Siemoniak is an example of a politician who has all the prerequisites to continue the development of Czech-Polish relations and to build on his own work. Beyond the framework of the Czech-Polish intergovernmental consultations, he initiated, together with Minister Alexander Vondra, regular meetings of the leadership of the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs. He considers the Czech Republic to be Poland's most important regional ally. He was born near the Czech border in Walbrzych, Lower Silesia. In 2015, he received the Czech and Slovak Transatlantic Award, which was presented to him by the Jagello 2000 association at NATO Days.