Ex-communist Mr Leszek Miller took office as Prime Minister of Poland yesterday vowing to win EU membership but promising "no new revolution" in a country exhausted by change.
Mr Miller (55) was sworn in as head of a left-wing coalition of his Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and the smaller Polish Peasants' Party (PSL).
The coalition was formed after the SLD fell short of an outright majority in the general election on September 23rd.
The outgoing right-wing prime minister, Mr Jerzy Buzek, stood down earlier yesterday after his Solidarity government was ousted completely from parliament in a voter backlash against the movement that toppled communism in 1989.
Mr Miller said he would consolidate the achievements of 12 years of democracy while helping those marginalised by the collapse of the command economy.
He put fighting unemployment - which has spiralled to nearly three million of a 39 million population - and restoring faltering growth at the top of his domestic policy agenda.
"We don't plan to start a new revolution - nor will we end any revolution," Mr Miller said after he and his 15 ministers gave their oaths of office to President Aleksander Kwasniewski.
The President, like Mr Miller, was a senior communist until 1989.
Mr Miller took personal charge of Poland's campaign to join the EU.
He said he would seek the best membership terms for Poland, the largest of the dozen, mainly Eastern European, candidates hoping to join the EU from 2004.