The nominations come ahead of parliamentary elections later in autumn and with support for the ruling Civic Platform sliding in the polls.
Former mayor of the southern city of Nowy Sącz, Andrzej Czerwiński is to take the post of Treasury Minister, replacing Włodzimierz Karpiński.
Cardiologist Professor Marian Zembala will become the new Health Minister following the dismissal of Bartosz Arłukowicz.
Andrzej Biernat will be replaced by Adam Korol, a rower and Olympic gold medallist, as Sports Minister.
Other nominations include Marek Biernacki, who replaces Jacek Cichocki as coordinator of the special services. Anna Nemś takes her place as deputy minister in the Economy Ministry, while Dorota Niedziela takes up her post as the Deputy Environment Minister.
The two replace Tomasz Tomczykiewicz and Stanisław Gawłowski respectively.
“Each of these people know what public service entails, know what hard work is, and know the problems of ordinary people,” said PM Kopacz at a special conference on Monday afternoon, following a meeting with President Bronisław Komorowski.
The ministers are expected to take up their posts on Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, the new Speaker of the Sejm lower parliamentary house – who will replace Radosław Sikorski – is to be announced next week, government spokeswoman Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska told journalists earlier on Monday.
Quickfire meeting with Komorowski
Before PM Kopacz announced the ministerial nominations, she met with President Bronisław Komorowski.
The meeting, which took place at 2pm on Monday, lasted for less than an hour and was moved forward from the original time on Monday later afternoon.
Kopacz met the president with Deputy PM and Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak.
Komorowski is still to meet on Monday with the leader of the junior coalition partner, the Polish People’s Party’s Janusz Piechociński, who is also Deputy PM and Economy Minister.
The meetings come as the outgoing president informed on Friday that he would be meeting with Kopacz and Piechociński to probe the ruling coalition to see “if it can successfully carry the weight of responsibility due to the personal changes to the government”.
The government shakeup comes in the wake of the release of confidential documents relating to last year’s financial tape affair by businessman Zbigniew Stonoga.
The leaked documents are related to the investigation into the so-called ‘tape scandal’ which rocked the financial and political spheres in 2014.
The recordings, made by at least two waiters at high-end restaurants in Warsaw, included confidential conversations between top members of government and public servants. (jb)
Source: PAP/TVP Info