Kaczynski and Morawiecki Clash Over PiS Split Threat

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the head of Poland's Law and Justice (PiS) party, said on Friday that more than 30 delegates from his group have effectively forfeited their membership after accusing former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and his supporters of trying to split the party.

Kaczynski said the party could not accept that outcome and declared the matter finished. The rebels, however, said they had not resigned but had been expelled.

A three-hour final round of talks between Kaczynski and Morawiecki ended on Thursday without a result. Piotr Mueller, an EU delegate close to Morawiecki, later said on X that the sides had been looking for understanding but could not accept subjugation.

Kaczynski had set a midnight ultimatum for rebel members to submit a written declaration that they would stop activities in the Rozwoj Plus association led by Morawiecki. In Kaczynski's view, the breakaway association has undermined the party's primacy.

Morawiecki rejected the idea of signing a loyalty pledge in an interview with TVN. He said that was the sort of demand that might have been made of him in the 1980s, referring to his persecution because of his father's opposition to the regime at the time.

For 25 years, Kaczynski and PiS have dominated Poland's right wing. Attempts to build a new, more radical right have previously been defeated. Since 2001, PiS has governed twice, from 2005 to 2007 and again from 2015 to 2023, and the presidency has been held by Lech Kaczynski, Andrzej Duda and, since mid-2025, Karol Nawrocki.

The party is now facing what is described as its greatest crisis since its founding in 2001.

Two parties now stand to the right of PiS: the far-right nationalist and libertarian alliance Confederation Liberty and Independence (KWIN) and the extreme-right, ultranationalist, traditionalist Confederation of the Polish Crown (KKP). Together, they poll better than PiS alone, and Kaczynski's party has lost many voters to both groups.

To win them back, Kaczynski has pushed PiS further to the right. In March, he nominated Przemyslaw Czarnek, the ultraconservative, ultra-Catholic former minister of education and science, as the party's lead candidate for the 2027 parliamentary election. Morawiecki and his supporters said that was a fundamental mistake.

Czarnek has tried to outflank the confederation parties with sharp criticism of the EU and Ukraine. During a recent Polish-Ukrainian dispute over unresolved historical issues, he called for all military aid to Ukraine to be halted until Kyiv changed its position. Supporters of that hard line said the party should act like a fist.

Morawiecki responded to the shift by launching the political association Development Plus. He has invited 1,000 guests from different political backgrounds to a policy event in late July, where they can discuss the country's future over a barbecue.

The former prime minister has been traveling around the country to meet local politicians and businesses. In April, he clashed with Kaczynski, who accused him of threatening party unity. At that time, Kaczynski still supported Morawiecki's efforts and spoke of two lungs within PiS. That compromise did not last.

Morawiecki has repeatedly said in public that he intends to remain in PiS. His aim, he said, is to open the party to new voters so that right-wing conservatives can return to power in 2027.

A few days ago, Morawiecki could count on the support of 40 members of the Sejm and several EU delegates. It is currently unclear whether all of them will be able to withstand Kaczynski's pressure.

Opinion polls by Opinia24 for TVN and TVN24 on July 22 gave Morawiecki 6.2% of the vote, while support for PiS fell to 17.7%. In the 2023 parliamentary election, PiS won 35% of the vote under Kaczynski.

Among Kaczynski's longtime associates from the 1990s, Morawiecki is still considered an outsider. After Poland's democratic transition, the trained historian held senior positions in several banks before joining PiS in 2016.

Under PiS rule, he served as development minister, finance minister and then prime minister. Morawiecki and his allies have accused their opponents of orchestrating a plot against them.

The center-right governing coalition led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk has not hidden its amusement at PiS's difficulties. Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski joked, "I love PiS so much, I'd love to have two of them."

Political scientist Danuta Plecka said the situation was a gift to the ruling government. She said recent scandals were now fading into the background and that Tusk did not need to do anything except wait.

A University of Gdansk researcher said the conflict between Kaczynski and Morawiecki may be a staged performance, noting that there are hardly any programmatic differences between them. She said the main difference is in language and political tactics.

She believed Morawiecki is meant to win over voters closer to the political center, after which both groups could cooperate after the election.