![](http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:axf7da1kRiB4JM:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Unabomber.jpg")
Posted on 10/21/2007 3:37:04 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski is conceding defeat as exit polls give a pro-business party a large lead over his ruling nationalists in Sunday's parliamentary elections.
Mr. Kaczynski promised his Law and Order Party will be a strong opposition during the next government.
Civic Platform is a center-right party which has pushed for lower taxes on businesses, a smaller bureaucracy and closer integration into the European economic system. Tusk has said he will seek to withdraw Polish forces from Iraq.
Sunday's election brings to an end two years of conservative rule by Prime Minister Kaczynski and his twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski.
They pushed hard for a stronger Polish voice in the European Union, alienating some EU allies. They also opposed various EU regulations, including those on the environment.
Mr. Kaczynski called Sunday's election two years early when the previous government collapsed because of a corruption scandal.
ping
So, the left-wing socialist-types appear to be losing everywhere but Nicaragua, Venezuela, Argentina...and here.
I thought the incumbent party was conservative. At least they stand with President Bush in the WOT. What about this party? The pro business part sounds good, but where do they stand on foreighn policy?
The incumbent party was terrific, and made Poland a great ally. A pro-business party doesn’t sound too bad, but if they are pledged to pull out of the war on terror, that isn’t good.
The Kaczynskis aren't left-wing socialist types. They're super-conservative nationalists. The two leading Polish parties are both conservative, but one (Kaczynski's PiS )is more nationalist while the other (PO) is more focussed on free trade and international markets.
The third largest party in Poland, the Samoobrona RP, is left-leaning on economic issues, but staunchly conservative on social issues.
Truly liberal / left wing parties get somewhere around 15% of the vote in Poland, which makes them politically irrelevant.
These guys were not socialists. In Europe Nationalist/Religious parties and Libertarian/Free Market parties are totally separate. The US type of conservative/free market parties tend not to exist there. I am not sure what happened to what was left of the old Communists. In Western Europe there usually are three party groupings: Social Democrats (socialists); Christian Democrats (conservatives); and Liberal Democrats (free marketeers). Interestingly France seems to be moving towards US style party divisions.
I couldn't think of a better outcome.
It was terrific on keeping good relations with the US, and putting a check on German and French influence in the EU. Thankfully, the old PiS president is staying in power.
On fiscal and economic policy, however, it wasn't so good. PiS is not to far from the US Democratic party in this area. Civic Platform will be a big improvement for domestic economic policy.
Poland's kind of getting the best of both worlds: a nationalist president with a pro-business and pro-free market tax-cutting prime minister.
I hope you’re right.
For example - as far as Iraq is concerned - Bogdan Zdrojewski (the future likely Minister of Defense) stated, that Polish troops should be withdrawn in 2009.
Terrific? The K-twins were horrible! For the EU - and Germans in particular - the foreign policy of both of them were a mess. It is a myth that Germany and France run the EU - they simply don´t have that much power. The EU is a common system based on the solidarity of all of its members, meaning that we are supposed to stand together. Like in a family, the various governments have to make compromises to achieve good results. Under der Kazczynski´s, Poland appeared to play the 3-yrs old, crying for sweets and insisting, that it´ll cry as long until it gets the sweets. Imagine how the Prime Minister tried to block the progress made on the EU summit in Brussels in June from Warsaw, while his brother has reached a deal. By threatening to use the veto all the time Poland tried to block the efforts made by all other 26 EU members. I´m relieved that Poland now gets a government, that doesn´t view its biggest neighbour country or the EU as a threat to its national security. The bilateral relations between Poland and Germany have been good between 1989 and 2005, and I´m confident, that we can soon re-establish these good relations.
Pro-business won, eh?
 |
Europe Pinglist. |
ping.
I went to grade school with a Kaczynski. He was a liar, a thief, and, well... just an overall bad seed.
Just my two cents. `:-D
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.