Justice minister's fate to be decided Monday
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
01.03.2013 08:51
The ruling Civic Platform is to take a decision on Monday whether Justice Minister Jaroslaw Gowin will remain in the coalition cabinet, after a row over government policy on civil partnerships.
Jaroslaw Gowin: photo - PAP/Leszek Szymanski
“Prime Minister Tusk said the Civic Platform board will make a decision regarding the presence of Minister Gowin in the government on Monday,” tweeted government spokesman Pawel Gras on Thursday.
Two hours later, Pawel Gras re-tweeted a tweet from Jaroslaw Gowin, saying “I don't like Mondays,” referring to the 1980s Boomtown Rats hit.
The centre-right Civic Platform has been split on finding a unified stance on civil partnerships, with conservatives in the party, led by Jaroslaw Gowin, voting against bills put forward by the government legalising civil partnerships for homosexual and heterosexual couples.
At a stormy meeting of Civic Platform last week, it was reported that Prime Minister Donald Tusk gave Gowin and other conservatives an ultimatum – come to a compromise over the issue or leave the party.
Gowin, justice minister in the Civic Platform/Polish Peasants Party (PSL) coalition since the general election in 2011, is thought to have insisted that two different bills on civil partnerships are presented by Civic Platform, which has both liberals and conservatives in its ranks. (pg)