Republic of Poland

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Poland

Government Constitution Human rights Executive President List Lech Kaczyński Prime Minister List Donald Tusk Council of Ministers Ministries Legislative National Assembly Senate Sejm Judiciary Constitutional Tribunal Supreme Court Supreme Administrative Court State Tribunal Supreme Chamber of Control Public Prosecutor General Ombudsman Elections Presidential (after 1989) 1990 - 1995 - 2000 - 2005 2010 Parliamentary (after 1989) 1989 - 1991 - 1993 - 1997 2001 - 2005 - 2007 European Parliament 2004 - 2009 Local elections (after 1989) 1990 - 1994 - 1998 - 2002 2006 Referendums (after 1989) 1996 - 1997 - 2003 Divisions Voivodeships (Województwa) Counties (Powiaty) Communes (Gminy) Cities and towns Political parties Major parties PO (Civic Platform) PiS (Law and Justice) PSL (Polish People's Party) Left Politicians Foreign policy Foreign relations Ambassadors Politics of the European Union See also Economy History (political) Military

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The Council of Ministers (cabinet), or Polish government, consists of ministers, heads of departments of ministerial rank, and heads of central institutions. The Council of Ministers is the body which exercises executive power. Under the Public Administration Branches Act the Prime Minister, who heads the Council of Ministers, enjoys a considerable degree of freedom in decisions concerning its personnel. The Prime Minister may create, combine, or dissolve departments, change their area of responsibility, and even apply to the President to expand the Council of Ministers to include ministers without portfolio, or coordinators for projects performed by the Council of Ministers, e.g. reform of the educational system or health service. The chairpersons of certain committees specified in the legislation (e.g. the Committee for European Integration), may also be appointed to the Council of Ministers. The composition of the Council of Ministers is proposed by the Prime Minister, who lodges an application to the President of the Republic for the appointment of cabinet members. The President appoints the Council of Ministers and receives their oath "of loyalty to the Constitution and other laws of the Republic of Poland".

Currently, the Council of Ministers consists of the following 19 members:

Name of Minister	Council Position
Donald Tusk	Prime Minister, Chairman of the Committee for European Integration
Waldemar Pawlak	Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy
Elżbieta Bieńkowska	Minister of Regional Development
Michał Boni	Minister, Member of the Council of Ministers
Jolanta Fedak	Minister of Labour and Social Policy
Adam Giersz	Minister of Sport and Tourism
Cezary Grabarczyk	Minister of Construction
Aleksander Grad	Minister of State Treasury
Katarzyna Hall	Minister of National Education
Bogdan Klich	Minister of National Defence
Ewa Kopacz	Minister of Health
Barbara Kudrycka	Minister of Science and Higher Education
Krzysztof Kwiatkowski	Minister of Justice, Attorney General
Jerzy Miller	Minister of Interior and Administration
Maciej Nowicki	Minister of Environment
Marek Sawicki	Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development
Radosław Sikorski	Minister of Foreign Affairs
Jan Vincent-Rostowski	Minister of Finance
Bogdan Zdrojewski	Minister of Culture and National Heritage

The Council of Ministers also manages the current policy of state, ensures the execution of the law by issuing ordinances, coordinates and controls the work of government administrative bodies, ensures public order and the internal and external security of the state, protects the interests of the State Treasury, approves the draft of the budget, and supervises its execution. The Council of Ministers also signs international agreements which require ratification, and can revoke other international agreements.

Members of the Council of Ministers are jointly responsible to Sejm for the operation of the government; they can also be individually responsible for the tasks entrusted to them by the Prime Minister or falling within the authority of their ministries. Any breach of the law or crime related to the offices they hold carry the risk of trial before the State Tribunal, a special court appointed by Sejm. The Council of Ministers is represented in the different voivodships of the country by its voivodes or regional governors. There are 16 of them - one for each voivodeship. The voivodes supervise the state administration within the territory of their voivodeship. The officials subordinate to the voivodes, as well as those working in the central offices and ministries, constitute the civil service corps, a politically independent body or administrators. The civil service corps is headed by the Prime Minister.

Alongside the civil service corps, the Chancellery of the Prime Minister and all ministries entail political cabinets - teams of advisors working for the government and each ministry on detailed policy guidelines.

[edit] See also

• Cabinet of Donald Tusk