Maciej Wewiór: Looting the State, Poland’s Failed Experiment in Diplomacy

Should an ambassador be loyal first to the ruling party or to the state? Maciej Wewiór presents that question as the core of Poland’s continuing dispute over diplomatic appointments, and rejects the idea that the distinction between career diplomats and political nominees is artificial.

The debate has resurfaced through comments from ambassadors appointed by Law and Justice governments and from Sławomir Dębski, who recently argued that promotions in the foreign service had always been political decisions. Wewiór contrasts that view with the principle of a democratic state governed by law, where officials should serve the country rather than become activists for each successive victorious party.

He says young people entering public service after 1989 received a promise: they could work for Poland in a nonpartisan foreign service, guided by the national interest rather than short-term political arrangements. Advancement to senior positions was supposed to depend on qualifications and hard work.

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The ambassador is a political nominee.

According to the article, that promise was broken after 2015. Experienced officials with two decades of service learned they would not reach ambassadorial posts, while political nominees took over key missions. Some had spent their careers as notaries, journalists or academics and, the article says, often had little knowledge of international affairs. In some cases, ambassadorial appointments appeared to compensate for a lack of success in their previous careers.

At a June meeting of parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, former Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau openly described the philosophy behind the system. He said the 2021 Foreign Service Act separated the role of an official from that of an ambassador. The official serves the Republic of Poland, while the ambassador is a political nominee whose expectation is “special loyalty to the political parties that stand behind his nomination.” Wewiór says this gives ambassadors the same political status as ministers or deputy ministers, and asks why the current governing coalition should be denied the right to remove them.

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Special loyalty to the political parties that stand behind his nomination.