POLISH FM MELLER TO REMAIN UNTIL A SUCCESSOR CAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L WARSAW 000269

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/17/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV PL
SUBJECT: POLISH FM MELLER TO REMAIN UNTIL A SUCCESSOR CAN
BE FOUND

REF: WARSAW 9755

Classified By: Political Counselor Mary Curtin, reasons 1.4b,d


1. (C) The Polish president and prime minister declined to
act on Foreign Minister Stefan Meller's reported resignation,
offering instead some general words of support and
indications that Meller's concerns about his position
(notably his absence from the National Security Council) will
be addressed. Both President Lech Kaczynski and Prime
Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz praised Meller's performance
and his February 15 report to parliament, although Kaczynski
was not especially convincing; queried by journalists while
departing Meller's address, the president mumbled that the
foreign minister has his support, but that "there are still a
few details to be sorted out." Most here believe that
Meller's departure is simply a question of time, and that he
would be gone already if the government had a suitable
replacement.


2. (C) MFA Americas Director Henryk Szlajfer explained to us
that Meller discussed his concerns with Kaczynski on the long
flight back from Washington last week, but evidently the
foreign minister was not completely reassured by this
conversation, as he went public with his resignation plans
immediately afterwards. The National Security Council
membership was one slight (Kaczynski now says Meller will be
included in the group),but reportedly Meller was also
angered by other attempts to diminish his position or
otherwise circumvent him. The initial manifest for
Kaczynski's visit to Washington had DFM Anna Fotyga (the sole
PiS activist in the MFA leadership) instead of Meller, for
example. Meller has also fought hard to limit PiS's
"de-communization" of the ambassador corps and even the
working-level MFA staff; Meller's pick for Moscow, Jerzy
Bahr, had reportedly been blocked simply because he had
worked for former President Kwasniewski as his national
security advisor.


3. (C) Comment: Meller appears to have received some promises
to induce him to stay on, but few expect that his position
will improve or that the Kaczynski brothers will hesitate in
replacing him once they find someone capable and willing to
take the position. Already an outsider within a government
that prizes loyalty, his going public with his grievances
probably sealed his fate.
ASHE