UPDATE 2-Poland replaces finance minister in government reshuffle

Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party on Tuesday reshuffled many of its senior ministers, replacing Finance Minister Teresa Czerwinska with her deputy Marian Banas, the head of the country's tax administration.

Czerwinska had expressed skepticism over the government's ability to pay for new social spending programmes earlier this year, according to local media. It was unclear whether Czerwinska was sacked or had resigned. ING Bank economists wrote in a daily report that her departure could clear the way for a limited broadening of the government's tax cuts for young people.

Two sources close to the matter have said she was offered a post on the central bank's management board, where she is to join another former finance minister Pawel Szalamacha among others. Czerwinska, widely recognised as a technocrat, was replaced along with several other ministers, popular ruling party politicians whose departure was explained by the government by the fact that they won seats in the European parliament.

The nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government had put forward some of its most senior politicians and won 26 seats in the European parliament while the opposition took 25 of the 51 seats reserved for Poland.

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