The Prime Minister did not listen to the President

Poland puzzled the US and reassured Russia

Poland will get a new government this week. On November 23, the new Prime Minister, 50-year-old Donald Tusk, will give a keynote speech at the Sejm. Immediately after this, deputies will vote on a vote of confidence in the cabinet. And on November 16, the government was sworn in in the presence of head of state Lech Kaczynski.

The Cabinet of Ministers will be a coalition - it will include representatives of the liberal Civic Platform (CP), which won the early parliamentary elections on October 21, and the Polish Peasant Party (PKP), which entered parliament. Last Friday, Tusk already convened the first meeting of the Council of Ministers, discussing budget issues.

As predicted by the Vremya Novostey newspaper, Tusk encountered difficulties when forming a cabinet: the presidential administration did not agree with the candidates proposed for the posts of heads of the ministries of defense, foreign affairs, and justice... Tusk took note of the comments, but insisted on his list without excluding anyone.

The new government has many interesting characters and familiar faces. The 48-year-old leader of the PKP , Waldemar Pawlak, often called the “two-time prime minister,” returns to the top of power. In 1992, he was appointed head of the cabinet by then President Lech Walesa, but was unable to form a government. He headed it a year after the creation of a left-wing coalition based on the results of the parliamentary elections. Pawlak has always been committed to good relations with Russia.

56-year-old Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski is known not only as a professor of economics and a supporter of the introduction of the euro in Poland, but also as a consultant to the Russian government and adviser to the “father of economic reforms” Leszek Balcerowicz. Defense Minister Bogdan Klich, 47, is a doctor and art historian by training, but has gained recognition as an expert on international issues. In Jerzy Buzek's government, he was vice minister of defense and was responsible for cooperation with NATO. Many of our political scientists know the European deputy Klich as the organizer of the non-governmental International Center for the Development of Democracy and the Institute for Strategic Studies in Krakow.

49-year-old Minister of Agriculture Marek Sawicki also has experience in government: he has already worked as Deputy Minister of Communications. He has a reputation for eloquent statements, and has already made a splash with his statement that the problem of the embargo imposed by Russia two years ago on the import of meat products from Poland can be resolved at Polish-Russian negotiations.

The most “controversial” minister in the new government is 44-year-old Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski . President Lech Kaczynski fundamentally did not want the ex-minister of defense in the government of his brother Jaroslaw to head Polish diplomacy. The fact is that Jaroslaw Kaczynski fired Radoslaw Sikorski from the post of Minister of Defense in February of this year. The dismissal was accompanied by scandals; Sikorsky was even accused of spying for Britain.

Now Sikorsky was immediately congratulated by NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who expressed hope for “good and personal cooperation.” The NATO Secretary General will probably visit Poland early next year. He will also attend the opening of the NATO Joint Forces Training Center in Bydgoszcz in June.

The presidential palace did not object to such an ultra-fast establishment of contacts with Brussels. However, the new Minister of Defense Bogdan Klich, contrary to the opinion of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, confirmed the election promise of the GP that “in 2008 the Polish military contingent will be withdrawn from Iraq.” The presidential palace understands this as an attack on Poland's main military ally, the United States. Moreover, the new government also questions the results of negotiations with the United States on missile defense.

The leaders of the State Enterprise, who are now allowed access to state secrets, want to know what the Polish side finally bargained for. “It is surprising that the United States and Russia have a more flexible approach to the problem of placing an anti-missile shield on Polish territory than Poland itself,” this is how Waldemar Pawlak, chairman of the PKP, commented on the situation to Vremya Novostei on the eve of the elections. Now that his party has become a coalition, and he himself has received not only the post of Deputy Prime Minister, but also control over the intelligence services, such a “surprise” will play a role.

In the 460-seat Sejm, the coalition has a majority (GP - 209 deputies, PKP - 31 deputies). But they won't have an easy life. The party of the Kaczynski brothers “Law and Justice”, which gave up power, through the mouth of its leader, former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, stated that it would be a tough opposition. And the leaders of the Left and Democrats (LeD) bloc say that Tusk’s cabinet will not reform anything, a personnel carousel will begin, and it will not last four years.

Valery MASTEROV, staff correspondent for Moscow News in Warsaw, for Vremya Novostei