Poland

Poland's political and economic benchmarks are set

Classified Polnews

Warsaw, Poland - May 5, 2006 Today the Polish government is about to form a coalition which coalition will have a majority voting position in the Polish parliament. This is the first time in eight months since the elections of 2005 that the Polish government will be able to make the changes to the economic and political situation in Poland that they have wanted to make since election.

Since the Polish parliamentary elections of 2005 little has been done by the Polish government other than to launch some investigations with the intent of prosecuting former members of the government and members of the now defunct Communist party.

There have been large-scale personnel changes in many ministries. But because of lack of a voting majority and because of political chaos involved in attempting to form a coalition, the Polish parliament when has done little in the way of setting economic policy.

None of the reforms or policies that the Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz wants to implement have been put before the Sejm. There has been very little debate in the Sejm on economic policies with debate being generally limited to squabbles over the formation of a new government.

During this time period the Polish economy has moved for dramatically as a result of the policies of the past government. Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz has been the beneficiary.

He cannot realistically claim responsibility for the economic performance to date when because he has instituted no changes. But as of today he will start instituting changes with his new government in place. So as he starts instituting changes and the economy changes, it will take credit for the good or the bad.

What changes Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz will make are presently unknown. As of the writing of this commentary the new government coalition agreement is still a few hours away from being finally signed. The government program agreed to by the coalition partners has not yet been announced.