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PiS splits over loyalty
Poland’s main opposition Law and Justice (PiS) split as Jarosław Kaczyński expelled Mateusz Morawiecki and about 30 lawmakers after they refused to sign a loyalty declaration tied to a ban on participating in an outside political association.
“Everyone knew what they were supposed to sign, and knew the consequences of not signing.”
Kaczyński said, “Everyone knew what they were supposed to sign, and at the same time everyone knew what the consequences of not signing were. And so they made the decision they did,” as he described the Development Plus association as part of a plan to split the party.
The dispute followed a July 15 resolution requiring PiS parliamentarians to withdraw from associations perceived as rivals, with a July 23 midnight deadline for declarations and expulsion threats for those who refused.
Brussels Signal reported that PiS’s political committee was set to meet on July 28 to formally acknowledge the resignations, after Kaczyński said the offer to suspend Development Plus activities until after the 2027 parliamentary election was rejected.
POLITICO reported that the expulsion would reduce Morawiecki’s parliamentary contingent to 140-145 seats in the 460-seat Sejm, after Kaczyński announced the break at PiS headquarters in Warsaw.
Competing narratives and voices
Morawiecki’s camp rejected the framing of a resignation and insisted the loyalty oath was the issue, with POLITICO quoting Paweł Jabłoński saying, “It’s not that anyone resigned from anything. We were simply thrown out of the party for trying to broaden it.”
In the same dispute, Kaczyński told a press briefing, “Everyone knew what they were supposed to sign and at the same time everyone knew what the consequences of not signing were,” while Brussels Signal reported he said the party’s political committee would meet on July 28.
Brussels Signal also reported that Morawiecki told wPolsce24 that a “group of schemers” was turning Kaczyński against him and trying to push him and his allies out of the party.
The Guardian said the rebel MPs insisted they did not intend to leave, but conceded they may be formally expelled at a party leadership meeting on Tuesday after refusing to sign the pledge.
Euronews described Kaczyński’s announcement that more than 30 MPs had left the party and said the split followed weeks of tensions over PiS’s future direction ahead of the 2027 parliamentary elections.
2027 stakes for Europe
The split is framed as a blow to the conservative camp’s attempt to topple pro-EU Prime Minister Donald Tusk, with POLITICO saying the rupture undermines efforts to remove Tusk in the election next year.
“undermines the conservative camp’s attempts to topple pro-EU Prime Minister Donald Tusk”
LIGA.net linked the internal PiS conflict to the 2027 vote’s importance for Ukraine, saying the level of military, political, and economic support for Kyiv will depend on the composition of the new government and that results may affect cooperation within the European Union and NATO.
POLITICO reported that after the presidential election of May 2025, PiS hoped to build momentum toward a return to government in 2027, but that support has been weakening in polls since last fall.
The Guardian warned that PiS could lose its status as the largest party in the Polish parliament as a result of the split, while also noting that PiS remained one of Poland’s two most successful political parties since 1989 with candidates winning four out of eight presidential elections.
Euronews added that the right has adopted an increasingly confrontational stance toward the European Union, saying Przemysław Czarnek argued Poland should withdraw from the EU’s Emissions Trading System and that President Karol Nawrocki renewed his call for a referendum on EU climate policy.