President And Prime Minister
Of Poland
Poland: According To Polish Prime Minister Democracy Is Not Functioning In Full.
Warsaw, Poland 21 February, 2007 According to Poland's Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, critical opinions about the report on the Polish Military Intelligence Services show that democracy in Poland is not functioning in full and that there is a lot to be done and changed in this matter. Further, in a normal democratic country no politician or journalist would be able to say things that the opposition and journalists are saying today without being totally discredited. See in Polish "http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/1,53600,3931631.html
On Friday the Polish President released a long awaited report on the activities of the Military Intelligence Services. He said that no changes were made to the report after it was submitted to him.
The report was criticised but generally regarded as a flop.
That was until Sunday evening when Deputy Prime Minister Andrzej Lepper called it a "dud" but promised there would be a scandal the next day.
His prediction was accurate.
On Monday, after revelations of changes by the Polish daily Dziennik, the Polish President said that two names had been removed from a list and admitted to other changes. The media erupted. See Polish Government Report on Poland's Military Intelligence Creates Storms
The Prime Minister ascribes the resulting criticism to a democracy that is not functioning in full.
According to Former Minister of Defense and member of the Polish Government opposition party SLD Jerzy Szmajdzinski, criticism resulted because "…the most important people in the country are lying."
Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Roman Giertych added that he thinks that not only 2 names, as stated by the President, but as many as 20 names may have been removed.
How the Prime Minister expects to make democracy function in full to stop such criticism or to discredit people who criticise has not yet been revealed.
