Poland
Poland's leading farmers party does not want the Ministry of Agriculture
Classified Polnews
Warsaw, Poland April 21, 2006 - The Polish political party Samoobrona, lead by Andrzej Lepper, is discussing the terms of a coalition to be formed with the leading Polish political party Law and Justice. As the negotiations to form the coalition move forward, it has been revealed that the Leader of Samoobrona does not want to personally take the position of Minister of Agriculture because it would be politically dangerous for him.
A Samoobrona party member commented to the press that Andrzej Lepper was too smart to take the Minister of Agriculture position because there were too many problems within that Ministry. He would demand that his party control Ministry of Agriculture but he would put another Samoobrona party member in as Minister of Agriculture.
Since the elections in 2005 that installed the Law and Justice minority government, the Law and Justice Party has been putting as many of its own party members into the positions that control and administer most of the ministries. By installing the new people with people who have no experience at all the functioning of the ministries has been set back. This lack of experience is having a direct effect on the income of the farmers.
Farmers have been complaining that their EU subsidy payments are late. This has been traced back directly to errors within the Ministry of Agriculture.
Additionally, the farmers were to have submitted requests for next year's payments by March of 2006. That has not been done. The forms that the farmers are supposed to use have not even been printed.
Andrzej Lepper has commented publicly that he does not want to be the Minister of Agriculture because a competing farmers' party, the Peasants' Party, would lead or cause demonstrations by the farmers that would damage the reputation of Andrzej Lepper and his political party Samoobrona.
Should the coalition be eventually formed and a member of Samoobrona become the Agriculture Minister, it can be expected that there might be further replacements in the Ministry of Agriculture. That would further compound the problem by adding new inexperienced people to that ministry.
Andrzej Lepper has also demanded that any Ministry that is run by a member of Samoobrona will have the exclusive right to set the policies of the Ministry and will not have to answer to any members of the government or get agreement from any other members of the government on any policies that are set.
The turmoil in Polish politics has been visible to the international media as far as the turmoil in the Polish parliament goes. But what they have not seen is the turmoil that has been created in the administrative organizations as the Law and Justice Party goes forward on its quest to destroy the system that has led Poland since 1989.
Andrzej Lepper and the Samoobrona political party are close to the problem and see how serious the turmoil is. And it is serious enough for Andrzej Lepper to actually turn his back on his constituency and refuse to take the position of Minister of Agriculture.
If You Did Not Find What You Want Here, Use This Search Box
