Karol Nawrocki, a conservative historian and supporter of Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, was sworn in as Poland’s president on Wednesday, setting the stage for conflict with the centrist government and potentially cooler relations with Ukraine.
Nawrocki took the presidential oath in a ceremony in the Polish parliament.
The election victory of Nawrocki, who was backed by the nationalist opposition party Law and Justice (PiS), dealt a blow to Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s hopes of cementing the pro-European Union course he has set for the bloc’s largest eastern member and left his government floundering in the polls.
Poland is now bracing for a continuation of the deadlock seen under nationalist outgoing President Andrzej Duda, with Nawrocki able to use his veto powers to stymie a government agenda that includes rolling back judicial reforms implemented by PiS, which critics said undermined the independence of the courts.
Nawrocki also looks set to pose a headache for the government by proposing measures such as tax cuts that are likely to be popular with many voters but hard to implement for an administration with a stretched budget.
