WARSAW — Two months after taking office, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki of Poland announced a sweeping reshuffling of the government Tuesday, a move seen as an effort to punish political rivals while improving the governing party’s image abroad as it engages in a bruising battle with other European nations.

Morawiecki dismissed a third of his Cabinet, including the foreign minister, the defense minister, and several others with tense relationships with European leaders. He was set to fly to Brussels for a working dinner with the European Commission’s president.

At a news conference, Morawiecki reiterated Poland’s stance against Muslim immigrants. The country, he said, needs to be “safe at its external borders as well as inside the country.’’ He said the new government seeks “to reconcile the European dimension with our Polish, local dimension.’’

In December, the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, used the most powerful threat in its arsenal to pressure Poland from continuing on a path it viewed as undermining the rule of law, invoking Article 7 of the EU’s founding treaty, which could strip Poland of its voting rights.

The right-wing Law and Justice Party has increased control over the media, sought to curb public gatherings, and curtailed the independence of the Civil Service and prosecutors.