What lies behind the US ambassador's threats towards Poland's ruling coalition

Poland has unexpectedly found itself in the spotlight amid a serious diplomatic incident with the United States – a country whose ties with Warsaw have long been regarded as strategically vital.

Sharp remarks by US Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose directed at Sejm Marshal (Speaker) Włodzimierz Czarzasty quickly turned into an element of domestic political struggle in Warsaw and an indicator of a new role of the American factor in Poland’s political agenda.

Read more about the scandal and what lies behind it in the article by international relations expert Stanislav Zhelikhovskyi and European Pravda editor Yurii Panchenko: Trump’s revenge against Tusk’s government? What the US embassy's attack on Polish authorities could mean.

Polish Sejm Marshal Włodzimierz Czarzasty stated last week that he would not support nominating US President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, as he does not deserve it.

At first glance, the statement did not seem sensational.

Most speakers of European parliaments reacted without enthusiasm to the joint appeal by US House Speaker Mike Johnson and Israeli Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana.

All the more unexpected, then, was the reaction of the US ambassador to Poland. "Effective immediately, we will have no further dealings, contacts, or communications with Marshal of the Sejm Czarzasty, whose outrageous and unprovoked insults directed against President Trump," Ambassador Tom Rose wrote on X three days after the marshal’s "outrageous insults."

He also specifically stressed that Czarzasty’s words create a "serious obstacle to our excellent relations with Prime Minister Tusk and his government."

The statement by the US representative caused a real explosion in Polish politics.

As expected, Czarzasty received support from his party colleagues in The Left, as well as from the parliamentary coalition and the government.

Notably, the American diplomat continued his threatening tone in response.

One reason for such a sharp reaction to Czarzasty’s words, both from the US ambassador and from the camp of Poland’s president, is that the current speaker is a former communist and the first representative of the Polish left in many years to reach one of the country’s top positions.

This makes him a convenient target for President Karol Nawrocki and the right-wing opposition – and, as it turned out, for the Donald Trump administration as well.

At the same time, a source from the opposition Law and Justice party (PiS), cited by Onet, says that the main target of the attacks is Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who has defended the speaker: "What is happening, Mr. Donald? Why are you defending an old communist linked to Russia?!"

References to Czarzasty’s alleged ties to Russia did not appear by chance. At the end of January, Gazeta Polska reported on possible contacts between the marshal and his wife Małgorzata with a Russian art dealer, as well as business links with a Russian woman, Svetlana Chestnykh.

The issue of the speaker's alleged "eastern connections" went so far that President Nawrocki brought it to a meeting of the National Security Council scheduled for 11 February.

Another reason for US dissatisfaction with Speaker Czarzasty is his position in favour of introducing a digital tax on large technology corporations.

However, there is yet another explanation: that the United States may be planning to intervene in Polish politics by supporting a change of government.

It is no secret that President Karol Nawrocki’s camp is betting on close ties with the Donald Trump administration. The current US leader supported him during last year’s presidential campaign and invited him to the White House shortly after the inauguration.

The Polish-American diplomatic incident has thus become a point of intersection for several lines of tension: rivalry between the government and the president, a struggle over the nature of Polish-American relations, and a debate about economic sovereignty in dealings with global corporations.