Poland Grinding To A Halt
The Polish government, in power less than six months, has not been able to accomplish much in the way of economic reform and prospects for future economic reforms seem bleak.
The Polish government, headed by the political party Law and Justice, came to power by making many promises to give everyone something. The party promised, among other things, less-expensive government, lower taxes, and 3 million flats to be built. Post-election analysis indicated that the Polish population also expected that the Law and Justice Party would go into coalition with the now opposition party Civic Platform. To date none of this has happened.
The Law and Justice Party has always stressed that the country must be rid of corruption and made more efficient. And most of the people in the country fully agree that something must be done since very few would disagree that Poland is infected with corruption
But in spite of the corruption, the Polish economy is stable. The Polish currency, the Zloty, is strong and getting stronger. The financial conditions in the country are strong enough that Asian banks have indicated that they will invest in the Zloty. http://www.radio.com.pl/polonia/article.asp?tId=34588
The current state of the Polish economy is a result of the policies and politics of the past 17 years. Over that time period Polish politics have been raucous, the country has experienced its ups and downs, but generally the system and networks that ran the country have put the country on a strong footing.
But Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the chairman of Law and Justice Party and brother of the President of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, is intent on destroying that system because it does not fit his model of an ideal system. In his quest to destroy the system the list of enemies that he has made it is long and continues to grow. A partial list is here. How not to make friends and influence people
The Kaczynski brothers have based their careers on fighting communists. Since the days when Lech Walesa was the President of Poland, they have generally worked outside the Polish governments of power attacking people and ideas. Even when they work with Lech for Walesa they fought people around them. Lech Walesa dismissed them as little more than troublemakers and they continue to act that way today.
But the world has changed for them. Now that they are on the top of the political pile they see that the country is not what they thought it was. It is not a country that is controlled from a central location but rather a dynamic society, that includes a young, mobile population, that has set, and that will continue to set, its own priorities and direction.
Not winning a controlling majority in the Polish parliament and rejecting a coalition with the liberal party Civic Platform, the Kaczynski twin brothers have attempted to assert central control over the country and the political system through a series of threats of new elections that would bring minority political parties in-line with their way of thinking and that would have the minority parties do their bidding.
But as they have misunderstood the state of society in Poland, they have further misunderstood the independence of the minority political parties.
They now find themselves in a position where they have a radical left party leader, Andrzej Lepper, whom in the past they have refused to deal with because they do not want to deal with a criminal, demanding that for his support he be made Deputy Prime Minister of Poland and that the government must carry out a long shopping list of his demands for legislation, The Kaczynski brothers may have to deal with him or be jammed in a minority government position with no way to turn.
If Kaczynski brings Lepper into the government, he may have a crisis within his own party and that crisis may start with the Prime Minister, Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, who does not want to see changes to his government. Additionally, the demands being made by Lepper are not likely to be acceptable to the Liberal Marcinkiewicz.
Former American president Lyndon Johnson once said that it is better to have your enemies inside the tent peeing out rather than outside the tent peeing in. If Kaczynski does not bring Lepper into the government he will have all the political parties outside the tent. He may have to don protective clothing.
Kaczynski had been trying to change Poland through force and intimidation. One of the groups he has attacked, and continues to attack, is the Polish media. And that is having an effect on him. He is continually portrayed by the media complaining about someone or blaming someone else for his party's inability to get something done. They are helping him destroy his image.
Additionally, it doesn't appear that Kaczynski understands the power of the Internet and the criticism that he and his party have been taking on the Internet. In the comments sections in the Internet versions of the newspapers and on the Polish blogs people have been absolutely brutal in their criticism of the Kaczynski brothers and their government.
Some commentators are asking if he will soon realize, or ever realize, that people want results and not promises. And the string of broken election promises is getting more play in the media with flashback sound bites and jokes becoming more frequent as time passes.
This media play on their broken promises is having its own effect on the population. A recent poll shows that in majority of people in Poland feel that the country is not going in the right direction. Nearly 2 thirds of the population think that things are going in the wrong direction, while only 1 fourth claim otherwise. http://www.polskieradio.pl/polonia/article.asp?tId=34858&j=2
And it is not only the populace that is concerned.
As Kaczynski goes forward destroying the network in Poland, the country goes on using up the steam and momentum built up during the past 17 years. But as Kaczynski leads the country from political chaos to political deadlock, the question must be asked, with all the bickering and complaining, can the country maintain the head of steam or will it grind to a halt?
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