Poland’s new president, Andrzej Duda, is sworn in, bringing political change

Krakow-born lawyer Andrzej Duda was sworn in as Poland’s sixth president on Thursday, following his election in May.

Duda, 43, promises to pay attention to the needs of the underprivileged.

He also announced the creation of an office responsible for the Polish citizens overseas within his chancellery.

August 5 Poland together with Ukraine’s other neighbours should be involved in resolving the crisis in eastern Ukraine, Poland’s president-elect Andrzej Duda said. We need greater guarantees from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, not only us as Poland, but the whole central and eastern Europe in the current geopolitical situation, hard as you perfectly know.

Duda, who represented the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, won against incumbent Bronislaw Komorowski, who was seeking a second term. However, confusion surrounded the absence from the ceremony of European Union leader and former Polish prime minister Donald Tusk.

Although his post is mostly ceremonial, the president is commander-in-chief of the armed forces in Poland and also has the power to shape foreign relations and to propose and veto legislation. He’ll have to walk a fine line when expressing support for his former party as Poles expect their presidents to remain neutral in the face of political conflict, according to Olgierd Annusewicz, a political scientist at Warsaw University.

With Duda in charge, Poland could be set to change the country’s relationship with the European Union, suggesting Poland should curb foreign ownership of banks.

“That means to present our point of view by communicating it to our partners on the worldwide stage in a quiet yet decisive way”, he said. On Thursday, August 6, Duda took the president’s oath.

He vowed to press for more North Atlantic Treaty Organisation security guarantees at the group’s summit in Warsaw next year.

“In a farewell speech on Polish television, outgoing president Komorowski said he had endeavoured to pursue the roads of “unity” dialogue and compromise” during his time in office.