| The Polish president received a blow from the rear and US support
Yesterday, a new political force called the League and Self-Defense (LiS) emerged in Poland. It arose as a result of the merger of the populist left-wing party Self-Defense and the national Catholic League of Polish Families (LPS). The beginning of the political intrigue was the unexpected resignation a week ago of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture Andrzej Lepper , who heads Self-Defense. If Self-Defense had left the ruling coalition, Poland would have had to hold early parliamentary elections. Pan Lepper was removed from his posts due to a corruption scandal surrounding his assistants in the Ministry of Agriculture. At first, he threatened to collapse the coalition and harshly demanded that the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CAB) present documents that would shed light on the special operation carried out against him. Then Lepper softened his tone, and yesterday he said that Self-Defense would not leave the coalition. But “Self-Defense” united with another party in the ruling coalition - LPS, led by Deputy Prime Minister Roman Gertykh. According to Mr. Lepper, the new LiS will be “strong like a lion and cunning like a fox” (in Polish the word “fox” means the same as in Russian). Yesterday, after a meeting of the leadership of the two parties, Lepper and Gertykh reported that the charter was already being written and the party program was being developed, in LiS everything would be decided only jointly, and each of the leaders would become co-chairman of the united party, which still needs to be registered. The merger of the parties, which now together have 76 deputy seats in the Sejm (there are 460 people’s representatives in the lower house of the Polish parliament), became a signal of readiness for new elections - it would be difficult for “Self-Defense” and LPS to get into the Sejm again. This means that although Lepper remains in the coalition for now, he is strengthening his position just in case, keeping in mind the likelihood of early elections. Andrzej Lepper reaffirmed his previous positions, on which he differs from the rest of the coalition. Thus, he and his associates continue to oppose the deployment of Polish soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also wants the decision to deploy missile defense elements in Poland to be made based on the results of a referendum: “After all, all this will hit not only Russia, but also Poland, and we want to save our state.” In addition, Lepper and Giertych together take a position of Euroscepticism, criticizing the European policy of the ruling party Law and Justice (PiS) of the Kaczynski brothers. Thus, Lepper and Gertych do not like the compromise that President Lech Kaczynski made at the June EU summit in Brussels. The new LiS association considers Poland unacceptable for accepting a new constitutional treaty being developed by the European Union. According to Mr. Gertych, this document threatens to turn the EU into a German-controlled superstate. Against the background of the strengthening of the positions of Polish Eurosceptics, the visit of Polish President Lech Kaczynski to the United States began yesterday. His delegation includes Defense Minister Alexander Szczyglo and Deputy Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski, the main negotiator with the Americans on the deployment of missile defense elements in Poland. Lech Kaczynski and George W. Bush discussed yesterday military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, in which Polish soldiers are participating, as well as the timing of the start of construction of a missile defense base on Polish territory. The administration of the Polish president emphasized that the visit is of a working nature, and if the presidents agree on something specific, it will be announced in Poland. But after meeting with Bush, the Polish president yesterday solemnly declared that “there is no better symbol” of the US desire for peace and security than the planned missile defense system: “There will be an anti-missile shield in Poland, and I don’t think that any circumstances will change that.” The Pole explained at length that this shield has defensive significance, and complained that “they don’t want to accept it in Russia.” Today Lech Kaczynski will visit the Vandenberg US Air Force Base in California, where he will inspect interceptor missile silos - similar ones may appear in Poland. The program of Lech Kaczynski’s American visit also includes the important issue of “guarantees of Poland’s energy security.” Warsaw hopes for US assistance in energy supplies from the Caspian Sea basin and Central Asia. We are talking primarily about Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Together with them, Poland and Ukraine want to complete the seven-year long-term construction of the Odessa-Brody-Plock-Gdansk oil pipeline. Taking this opportunity, Kaczynski once again tried to convince the Americans to grant the Poles the right to visa-free entry into the United States. To do this, the Polish embassy in Washington set a table for influential congressmen, and the Polish president even brought state awards to some of them. The highest award, the Order of the White Eagle, was awarded posthumously to Ronald Reagan for his support of the Polish Solidarity organization and “firm policies that led to the fall of communism.” The order will be presented to President Nancy Reagan's widow in Los Angeles. Valery MASTEROV, special correspondent of Moscow News in Warsaw, for Vremya Novostei
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