Polish Sejm
Fewer Seats?
The Polish Government Proposes Big Changes For Poland
Warsaw, Poland - 20 November, 2007
The new Polish Government gave some early signals as to what Poland can expect. Here is a summary of the main highlights of what the Civic Platform, under Prime Minister Donald Tusk, would like to accomplish.
Whether he can force the reforms through and overcome presidential vetoes will depend on him getting the support of not only his Government's coalition partner, PSL, but also the SLD.
The reforms are significant and Tusk will likely have a difficult time in getting all the support that he wants and needs. Some of them are directly against the self interest of the Parliament members themselves so there is likely to be a lot of internal resistance. And others are simply not in line with the ideology of some of the parties themselves.
Here are the major points:
A flat tax of 15 percent on personal, corporate and value added tax.
A resumption of privatization and an increase in the number of companies privatized.
Health care reform including the privatization of some services.
Decentralization of the Government and the allocation of a larger share of the budget to local governments.
Reform of higher education that will encourage higher quality education at private universities.
Reducing the number of members of parliament from 460 to 230.
A change from proportional representation to a "first past the post" electoral system.
Labor law reform.
Currently the polls show that about 55% of the Polish people have faith in the new Government. That may encourage Tusk to move quickly before non Civic Platform MPs start to feel pressure to work against Tusk.
Tusk has already shown a propensity to act quickly. His Government started work immediately and decisions rendered in short order. Some were so fast that a previous Government functionary, Marcierecicz, was surprised as he was preparing to go to the airport on a trip to Afghanistan when he was given a letter instructing him not to go.
And major tasks as formal review of the 2008 budget started as soon as the Government was in place.
It appears that much work and preparation had been done prior to the Government being formed.
The question is open as to whether Tusk will try to move his reforms early and fast so that the public will be able to see the results before the next elections.
To do that he is going to have to do a lot of horse trading to keep SLD and PSL on board. New Polish Government Must Rely On Poland's Post Communists
