The Eastern European country faced the prospect of legal action by the European Union over what it saw as the politicisation of Poland’s judiciary.
The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has now attempted to defuse the situation and announced an extensive government reshuffle.
President Andrzej Duda, acting on recommendations by new prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki, dismissed Environment Minister Jan Szyszko, who has spearheaded large-scale logging in an ancient forest that prompted action by the European Court of Justice.
Also losing their jobs were Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz, a former anti-communist crusader facing criticism over delays in modernising the army as well as conflicts with top generals, and Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski.
The reshuffle followed the appointment of former bank Chief Executive and Finance Minister Morawiecki as prime minister last month at the midpoint of the parliamentary term.
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Shortly after announcing details of the government reshuffle, Mr Morawiecki left for his first face-to-face talks with officials in Brussels, where his dinner with the head of the bloc’s executive arm, Jean-Claude Juncker, was due to finish late in the evening.
Mr Morawiecki said: “The new (government) should help us build a sovereign Poland within a strong Europe, a Europe of homelands.”
The EU currently has deep divisions between its member states in the east and west.
The western countries tend to favour greater integration with the likes of France and Germany in particular pushing for great unification while countries such as Hungary and Poland want a looser form of unity.
The EU is due to look at whether or not Poland is backsliding on democracy on February 27.
The most severe sanction of suspending Poland’s EU voting rights is unlikely to materialise, as Hungary has said it would block any such punishment.
The 27 are likely to ask Warsaw to make amends, issuing recommendations echoing those by Brussels that the PiS has so far ignored, and giving it some time before deciding on more steps.
Together with Warsaw’s refusal to host refugees, the PiS judicial overhaul is at the heart of the row with Brussels.
Rights groups, western EU states and Poland’s political opposition say the government is undercutting the courts’ independence.
In a sign that government policy is unlikely to change, Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro kept his job in the reshuffle, and new rules give him powers to appoint the heads of lower-level courts as well as exercise oversight over prosecutors.
PiS says the reforms are needed because the country is steeped in a mentality and power structures dating from the post-war communist era.
Mr Szyszko had attracted widespread criticism domestically over moves to lift limits on hunting and for allowing massive logging in areas of Poland.
The dismissed Health Minister has struggled to contain protests by medical staff in recent months.
The outgoing Defence Minister has been the PiS investigator into the 2010 plane crash over Russia that killed President Lech Kaczynski – the twin brother of current PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski – and dozens of other senior Polish officials.
Mr Kaczynski and Mr Macierewicz believe the crash may have been caused by foul play and not pilot error, which was the official cause returned by a investigation by the previous centrist government.