‘Weak PM, cabinet of hawks’
Poland to take Russia to court over plane wreckage
VARSOVIE, Nov 10, (Agencies): Polish media on Tuesday warned of the dangers of coupling a weak premier with a cabinet of hawks a day after prime-minister-in-waiting Beata Szydlo unveiled her new conservative cabinet.
Szydlo is seen as the political protigi of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, head of Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS) conservatives who is widely accepted as the mastermind of all the party’s moves in the runup to and following its landmark election victory on October 25.
“A weak prime minister and a strong contingent of hawks,” Newsweek Poland said, referring to future defence minister Antoni Macierewicz, justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro and intelligence service coordinator Mariusz Kaminski.
“Beata Szydlo will be the prime minister of a government in which she will have very few of her own trusted allies,” warned Gazeta Wyborcza, a leading liberal daily that is deeply critical of the PiS.
Hardliners All three ministers are hardliners who touted theories about a vast conspiracy of communist-era intelligence agents undermining Poland’s interests while serving in the last PiS government, which held office between 2005-2007.
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Macierewicz accused Russia of playing a role in the deadly 2010 crash of an official Polish jet that killed president Lech Kaczynski — Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s identical twin.
Described Veteran diplomat Witold Waszczykowski, Szydlo’s pick for foreign minister, has been variously described as “eurosceptic”, “antiRussian” and “pro-American”.
Several dailies hailed the choice of Mateusz Morawiecki for development minister, a portfolio revamped by the PiS to cover economy, the treasury and state finances.
A banker who since 2007 has headed Bank Zachodni WBK — Poland’s third bank and part of the Santander group — Morawiecki is regarded as a sound financial manager for his success in weathering the global financial crisis.
“Superminister” was the Tuesday headline splashed across the “Puls Biznesu” financial daily, which described Morawiecki as “a pro and a patriot”.
PiS-backed President Andrzej Duda is expected to formally tap Szydlo to head the government after outgoing centrist premier Ewa Kopacz resigns this week.
Some analysts and media have dubbed Kaczynski Poland’s new “king”, pointing to his party’s control over the presidency, the parliament and soon, the central bank.
He hand picked the 52-year-old Szydlo as his party’s candidate for premier after she ran a successful presidential campaign that got Duda, a political greenhorn, elected in May.
A coal miner’s daughter with a degree in ethnography, Szydlo campaigned on promises to lower taxes while boosting welfare spending.
But Kaczynski’s push for power has also preyed on fears arising from Europe’s worst migrant crisis since World War II.
He says EU member Poland should contribute financial aid to tackle the crisis but not take in migrants.
Also: WARSAW: Poland’s next foreign minister says the country is fed up with waiting for Russia to return the wreckage of the plane that went down in Russia in 2010, killing the Polish president and 95 others, and plans to take Moscow to the European Court of Human Rights to get it back.
Witold Waszczykowski also says any improvement in ties between Russia and the West will have to be initiated by Moscow because Russia is to blame for the current tensions.
The remarks by Waszczykowski late Monday indicate a tougher stance toward Russia by the incoming rightwing Law and Justice party after eight years of centrist rule.
Law and Justice won a parliamentary election Oct 25 and will be sworn in within the next days.