President Karol Nawrocki will again send the prime minister requests for countersignature to appoint four people to the National Bank of Poland (NBP) Management Board: Ludwik Kotecki, Przemysław Litwiniuk, Marcin Zarzecki and Marta Kightley. Chief of the President’s Chancellery Paweł Szefernaker announced this on Friday, October 16.
As Szefernaker told a press conference (according to PAP Biznes), the president will again forward to the Prime Minister a decision with a request for countersignature. It is to include “the same people who were nominated by consensus in February this year.” Kotecki, Litwiniuk and Zarzecki are currently members of the Monetary Policy Council (RPP), and Marta Kightley was the first Deputy President of the NBP until March 2026.
What has already happened
The president’s February request to appoint these same people did not receive the prime minister’s countersignature, and without it the appointment has no legal force. According to PAP Biznes, in May the Chancellery of the Prime Minister returned the four nominations to the Chancellery of the President without countersignature. Kightley and Kotecki would take office from the date of appointment, Litwiniuk from November 5, 2026, and Zarzecki from January 2, 2027.
On Monday, the NBP announced that the bank’s president had again submitted requests to the president for the appointment of Management Board members. The bank stressed that it had taken all possible steps in this matter under the law.
Why countersignature is needed
Under the law, the NBP Management Board consists of the president and six to eight members, including two deputy presidents. The term lasts six years, and the same person may not serve more than two consecutive terms. The president appoints and dismisses Management Board members on the motion of the NBP president. However, the Constitution generally requires the prime minister’s countersignature for the president’s official acts. Exceptions include, among others, the motion to the Sejm to appoint the NBP president and the appointment of RPP members. Appointing members of the central bank’s Management Board does require countersignature.
Time pressure: November 4
The NBP Management Board currently has six members, which is the minimum required by law. The term of Deputy President Adam Lipiński expires on November 4. If his seat is not filled, the number of members will fall below the statutory threshold. According to PAP Biznes, the other members are: Marta Gajęcka (term until January 1, 2027), Paweł Mucha (until September 1, 2028), Artur Soboń (until December 6, 2029), Rafał Sura (until July 28, 2028) and Paweł Szałamacha (until October 12, 2028).
The Chancellery of the President is also commenting on the dispute on X. On Friday morning it published a post warning that, for the first time since the NBP Act was passed in 1997, both of the bank’s executive bodies, the Management Board and the president, could simultaneously lose their constitutional independence. The post compares the situation to the Constitutional Tribunal. This is the position of the presidential side.
At the time of publication, we did not know the position of Prime Minister Donald Tusk or the Chancellery of the Prime Minister regarding the announced renewal of the requests. In the previous attempt, countersignature was not granted.
What it means
For readers in Poland, the key date is November 4. If countersignature is not granted and the vacancy after Lipiński remains, the NBP Management Board will have fewer members than the law requires. The matter concerns the functioning of the central bank, which is responsible, among other things, for monetary policy and the stability of the banking system. It does not directly lead to a change in interest rates, as those are decided by the RPP. However, the dispute adds uncertainty around the institution, and Kotecki, Litwiniuk and Zarzecki are at the same time members of the Council.
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