THE WORLD TODAY

Polish coalition government has collapsed

AN official with Poland’s conservative governing party has said that the government’s right- wing coalition has collapsed. Marek Suski said the Law and Justice party will continue to run Poland as a minority government, without the junior partners that were part of the coalition dubbed the United Right.

“The coalition at the moment does not exist,” Suski said. “Our former coalition partners should be packing up their desks.”

It was not immediately clear if the announcement of the coalition’s collapse was final, or if the threats amounted to a tactical power play.

“Let us not prejudge, because various things are possible in politics. A lot can still happen, but at the moment the situation is such that the coalition practically does not exist,” Ryszard Terlecki, the Law and Justice party leader in parliament, said.

Party leaders will meet on Monday to discuss next steps and an early election could happen if a minority government is unable to pass legislation.

Law and Justice has been governing with the support of two small parties, one led by the justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro ( pictured), since 2015.

The announcement yesterday came after Ziobro and his party voted against an animal welfare bill proposed by powerful Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

Kaczynski, 71, is an MP and has no official government role, but he is widely understood to be Poland’s dominating political force, deciding policies and appointments.

The lower house of parliament, or Sejm, approved provisions of the proposed bill that included the prohibition of breeding fur animals and limitations on ritual slaughter.

Law and Justice passed the bill with support of opposition MPs.