POLAND:Poland's coalition carousel has taken a surprising turn with the two junior coalition parties - left-wing populists and right-wing extremists - agreeing to form a new EU- critical bloc.
The move is designed to prevent, for the time being at least, an election in Poland that neither party would be likely to survive.
Early elections appeared likely last week when Law and Justice (PiS) leader and prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski fired Andrzej Lepper, the deputy prime minister and leader of the left-wing Self Defence party, over corruption allegations.
Mr Lepper denied the allegations and, in response, said he would pull his party out of government.
Instead he announced a merger yesterday with the third and smallest coalition partner, the ultra-Catholic League of Polish Families (LPR).
Ideologically, the two parties have little in common, apart from a suspicion of Mr Kaczynski and of the European Union.
The League is an anti-abortion, anti-Semitic, anti-gay grouping that promises its largely rural voters a moral revolution. It is currently under investigation for allegedly misappropriating 1.4 million zloty (€372,000) in public funds.
Self Defence also draws on rural Poland for support, promising voters higher social welfare spending and greater EU farming subsidies.
Earlier this month, LPR leader Roman Giertych attacked the new EU treaty compromise agreed in Brussels and promised to launch a campaign against it.
He said the treaty would violate Polish values and interests.
Joining forces to form the League and Self Defence (LiS) is a pragmatic move by the unlikely political partners, the towering Mr Giertych and the shorter Mr Lepper, who sports a trademark 1950s quiff.
Both men are desperate to hold on to voters and win back others who, since they took office last year, have drifted away to the larger coalition partner, PiS.
The prime minister said yesterday that he did not view the creation of the new party as "a significant development".