Roman Giertych (L), leader of the right-wing party "League of Polish Families", and Andrzej Lepper, leader of the leftist group Self-Defence - new faces (rather mugs) of Poland.
Posted on 05/05/2006 10:41:50 AM PDT by lizol
Poland installs right-wing, populist majority coalition
May 5, 2006, 16:26 GMT
Warsaw - Polish President Lech Kaczynski swore in a new majority coalition government in Warsaw on Friday after a shakeup in which the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party succeeded in forming a cabinet with the support of two highly EU-sceptic populist parties.
The move raised concern among analysts over the direction Poland's economic reform drive may take with the anti-reform populist Samoobrona (Self Defence) farmers' party and the Catholic nationalist League of Polish Families (LPR) now officially in power.
The PiS, Samoobrona and LPR will command a majority of at least 238 seats in Poland's 460-seat parliament.
PiS Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz said the stable coalition would serve to calm the mood in society and the Sejm (parliament).
Andrzej Lepper, the firebrand leader of the junior coalition partner, completed his image make-over to that of respectable elder statesman Friday when President Kaczynski nominated him deputy prime minister and minister of agriculture. The posts of labour and social policy minister and construction minister were also given to Samoobrona members.
LPR leader Roman Giertych was made deputy prime minister and education minister. The highly EU-sceptic LPR would take over several ministries, including education, in exchange for bringing its entire 27-seat bloc into the fold.
Giertych is known for having built up the LPR's far-right youth wing, the All Poland Youth, which has led vocal, often violent, protests against gay rights.
All Poland Youth leader 28-year-old Rafal Wiechowski was made minister of maritime economy and at once became the youngest minister in post-WWII Poland.
Initial reactions among opposition parties and independent analysts over the role in government for Samoobrona and LPR was extremely critical.
'This is a very sad day for Poland,' a senior analyst for Danske Bank Lars Christensen told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa in a telephone interview.
'The only positive is that there's a stable majority, but the anti-EU, anti-reform and anti-market policies of both Samoobrona and LPR will send a very bad signal to markets,' he said. 'Their populist rhetoric is also not good news for fiscal responsibility in Poland.'
'We will have to see, but hopefully they will act responsibly and not against reform or drawing foreign direct investment,' Christensen said.
Friday's majority coalition agreement came after nearly eight months of failed attempts to build a stable majority in parliament since the PiS's narrow victory in September 2005 elections.
PiS Prime Minsiter Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz is yet to fill the post left vacant by former foreign minister Stefan Meller who quit over the coalition with the populist parties.
Meller was one of two senior ministers who threatened to quit the cabinet in the event of a formal alliance with Samoobrona and LPR.
Liberal Finance Minister Zyta Gilowska has described Samoobrona's generous social spending plans as 'impossible' to implement, but has given no indication as to whether she intends to quit the cabinet in the wake of the coalition deal.
Analysts warn panic could jolt financial markets should Gilowska, seen as a guardian of fiscal discipline, quit, amid fears that the generous social spending advocated by PiS's new coalition partners could cause a ballooning deficit.
lizol stop panic ;)
we will see, you could wait six months only
Oh, give it up, I just can't recover after I've seen last news on TV.
This is confusing. Is the "right wing" full of fiscal liberals in Poland?
This "right wing" is as much "right" as Sahara is full of water.
In Poland not exist liberal party ;)
http://scenapolityczna.friko.pl/
This outfit is populist, not conservative. "Populist" basically means "embodying all the reasons why the founders of the American Republic feared and loathed 'democracy'".
Lepper? I wont to say that I’m not peasant, probably as you both. Peasants voted for him, so they have exactly what they wanted.
Could be better? Yes! Blame PiS AND PO!
"This is what we hate and despise and what makes us different from all those Polish liberals."
Who "we" are ?
Great.
Great, now you'll have a chance to think about such a noble "statesmen", like vice Prime Ministers Lepper and Giertych.
You know, my parents have political views similar to yours, and we argue about politics pretty often.
No matter what a stupid move Kaczynski brothers and their PiS would do - my folks always found an explanation. Usually it was a Polish version of "that's all Bush's fault", which is "that's all Platform's fault".
But today even my parents were just stunned with the view of Lepper and Giertych in the Presidential Palace.
Especially with Giertych as the Minister of Education and vice Prime Minister.
And you're saying about PO's "overwhelming cynism"?
So how to call the situation, when some politicians rank another one, announce him publicly as a person without any credibility - only to give him a very high position in a government 1 week later?
Tha's not an "overwhelming cynism"?
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