Roman Giertych
Poland's Deputy Prime Minister Makes Direct Challenge To Polish Prime Minister
Classified Polnews
Warsaw, Poland 6 March, 2007 A visibly agitated Polish Deputy Prime Minister publicly challenged his Prime Minister on Poland's abortion laws in his efforts to strengthen his position with ultra-conservative voters. In response to a public reprimand by the Prime Minister, he demanded answers.
Giertych, without having met with or having talked with the Prime Minister, was reprimanded in a press conference held by the Prime Minister. He said that Giertych had overdone it with his comments on abortion in Germany and in Poland and that is why he was going to hear the reprimand in the media. He added that Giertych's duty was to deal with his Ministry and not everything was right there.
At his counter press conference, Giertych, showing emotion that in uncommon for him, demanded to know for which of the sentences - which opinion - he was reprimanded.
And he wanted to know if it is possible to be in the Polish Government with opinions like he has.
According to Marek Migalski, a political analyst at Silesia University in Katowice, "Giertych made a smart move. He is trying to paint Kaczynski as a liberal and take the ultra-conservative people on his side."
But Giertych is running into resistance from even those who would like stronger abortion laws.
Even though they reprimanded him, both the President and the Prime Minister are anti-abortion but they see that an amendment will not pass and the discussion will only open the discussion more to those who want to liberalize the laws.
And the Roman Catholic Church is of similar opinion. The current law is a compromise that was very difficult to achieve. Reopening the discussion will not be helpful to the Church. Archbishop Goclowski said that the constitution protects life sufficiently for now.
But Giertych has some very strong support even within the Prime Minister's political party. The Speaker of the Polish Parliament, Marek Jurek, is determined to see the Constitution changed to make any abortion illegal. He has had words with the Prime Minister on that himself and stands on Giertych's side of the issue.
Commentators say that any votes in the Polish Parliament will not be able to be subject to discipline because the matter is a personal issue.
Public opinion polls show both support for the change and no support for the change. It just depends on which poll you read.
Giertych and the Prime Minister are scheduled to meet today. The meeting is expected to do little more than harden positions and cause more controversy.
And as for him remaining in the Government, little is likely to change. Kaczynski needs him to stay in power and Giertych, because his election poll results are so low, is afraid to face the voters lest he may not be returned to the Parliament.
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