A political puzzle. Coalition on... rubber

Deficit, income and political tension

Start time. The president must decide by 16 January what he will do with the budget bill – if on Friday 9 January the paper actually went to his desk. The parliament has just adopted the budget, taking into account the amendments of the Senate, and sent it to the Presidential Palace. The expenditure plan for 2026 assumes a deficit of nearly PLN 272 billion and revenues exceeding PLN 647 billion. The problem is that Karol Nawrocki had previously vetoed laws raising excise duties and the alleged sugar tax, and the proceeds from them have already been included in this year's budget forecasts. This may reduce gross by up to PLN 3 billion, although the Minister of Finance does not seem peculiarly concerned. The president cannot refuse to sign the budget bill, but may mention it to the Constitutional Court. The problem is that the current authority of the Court does not recognise it – although it can begin to recognise it erstwhile it complements the vacancying seats with ‘its own’, that is, as the coalition politicians emphasize, independent judges.

The legislature extends his hand, but takes the money

Karol Nawrocki does not have an easy task. It is actual that the legislature reached out to consent and withdrew from the thought of depriving the President's Chancellery of more than PLN 217 million – specified an amendment was pushed by Senator Stanisław Gawłowski – but with his another hand took funds from the Constitutional Court (more than PLN 9 million) and the Institute of National Memory (more than PLN 13 million). The money will go to the organization of 26th planet Scout Jamboree Poland 2027 and to acquisition books for the National Library. The Sejm supported these changes, and intensive work on the budget was to be the authoritative reason for not including additional points in the agenda – above all, the government draft law on the position of the closest individual in the relation and the agreement on a common life. At least that's how the talker of the Sejm explained it.