Speaker rejects president's call for new constitution

According to the speaker, a member of the senior coalition party Civic Platform, the current balance of power works effectively.

“As we have observed in recent years, the president's role is stipulated in the constitution – and it is quite a strong role – with authority over the armed forces, the representation of Poland abroad, and the opportunity to put forward own bills,” she said during a speech at Gdańsk's Hewelianum Centre.

“It seems to me that it is perhaps too early after just a few days in office to say that the president should have more powers,” she added.

In an interview with Polish Radio on Saturday, President Andrzej Duda, who was the candidate of opposition party Law and Justice, re-iterated his calls for a new constitution.

However, he did not categorically say that the president should have more powers.

“The president is elected by the people, and therefore he should be given great responsibility, because it is a very specific role - there is only one such mandate.

“But this should go hand in hand with precise powers for the president,” he said.

“The president in Poland has relatively few of such powers,” he claimed.

Duda added that that there should be a public debate as to “whether the president should be stronger as regards the political system, or whether he should be weaker in the political system.” (nh/rk)

Source: PAP