Polish government starts process of self destruction as the Prime Minister resigns
Warsaw, Poland July 8, 2006 Late last night, after the evening news programs had presented the events of the day, it was announced that the Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz had resigned. Early speculation is that he will be replaced by the Leader of the Law and Justice Party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
Though the timing of the resignation will surprise many when they wake up on Saturday morning, the resignation is probably not a surprise to those who have followed the inner workings and secrets of Polish politics. When the current government coalition was formed it was predicted in early May by many that the government would not last more than 30 days.
You can get in depth background information on those predictions by going to this link. "There are very few commentators, outside the Polish government itself, who feel that there will be any real longevity for the current Polish government."
Friction between the rulers of the Law and Justice Party and Prime Minister Marcinkiewicz has been increasing over the past few weeks.
When the Minister of Finance, Zyta Gilowska, was replaced the Prime Minister, in what may have been an act of defiance, appointed a replacement for her who was unknown to the rulers of the Law and Justice Party. The replacement was a man close to the Prime Minister and whose economic views paralleled those of the Prime Minister. And those views do not fall in line with those of either Jaroslaw Kaczynski or his coalition partner Andrzej Lepper of the political party Samoobrona.
Knowing that the Prime Minister was to be in a meeting in Croatia today, the Law and Justice Party scheduled a party meeting to make some appointments and to discuss party matters. And the Prime Minister who knew that the meeting was scheduled purposely at a time when he was to be out of the country said all week long that he would be going to the meeting in Croatia. But then on Friday afternoon, to everyone's surprise, he said he would not go to the meeting in Croatia. And then on Friday evening his resignation was announced.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Marcinkiewicz met with opposition party leader Donald Tusk. The leaders of the Law and Justice Party did not know about this meeting until after it was held. They expressed surprise that he had met with Donald Tusk.
After the meeting, Donald Tusk said that Marcinkiewicz was vary calm in spite of the difficult political situation he had in front of him. But Marcinkiewicz said that he did not know of any difficult situation. Both Marcinkiewicz and Tusk described the meeting as good.
Kaczynski is expected to take the position as Prime Minister. "It is natural that the governing party's leader takes responsibility for the government," government spokesman Konrad Ciesiolkiewicz told PAP Friday.
If Kaczynski and Lepper team up to impose on Poland the leftist economic policies that both favor, the country's financial system may be overburdened and there may be some hard times ahead for Poland.
The Donald Tusk meeting with Kaszimierz Marcinkiewicz may have some long-term ramifications for the country and for the economic policies even in the short run. One would question if they discussed if, or how, they would work together after Kaczynski becomes prime minister.
And will the government shake-up continue? Will the Minister of Health stay in the government or will he be removed? And what other changes will be made?
The effect on the fall elections is another thing that will definitely be on some minds.
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