Polish presidential result hailed as fresh start for reform

POLISH PRIME minister Donald Tusk has described the victory of political ally Bronislaw Komorowski in Sunday’s presidential election as a “fresh start” for his government’s reform efforts.

Mr Komorowski of the ruling Civic Platform (PO) used a ceremony presenting him with a certificate confirming his election victory to promise an end to the policy of political veto pursued by his predecessor, the late Lech Kaczynski.

Mr Tusk and Poland’s president-elect worked hard to dampen speculation yesterday that their reform appetite was waning ahead of local elections this autumn, a general election next year and a resurgent political opposition.

“We understand that [Komorowski’s] victory is a great obligation, a new opportunity for me and the government,” said Mr Tusk at yesterday’s ceremony in Warsaw’s Royal Palace.

For his part, Mr Komorowski announced his resignation from the PO party to enable him serve as “president of all Poles”.

“It is a difficult time to part from the Civic Platform, but the president must be independent,” he said.

Analysts described it as a largely symbolic move to distinguish himself from his predecessor, the late president Kaczynski, who never disguised his loyalty to his twin brother and their opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party.

President Kaczynski regularly exercised his right to veto government legislation and Mr Tusk’s government found it impossible to push through its reform agenda.

With that blockade lifted, the government says three areas require urgent attention: pruning the budget deficit by cutting social expenditure and raising VAT; increasing the retirement age and cutting pension benefits; and healthcare reform to increase private contributions.

Seasoned Warsaw watchers predict Mr Tusk will proceed cautiously with reforms, although he may soon face a more formidable opponent to reform than Mr Kaczynski’s PiS party.

“PiS is not the problem but the electorate which expects changes but without pain,” said Eugeniusz Smolar of Warsaw’s Centre for International Relations.

Polish central bank president Marek Belka said the government “must ignore the pressure of the election year” and proceed with reforms. Economist Prof Krzysztof Rybinski said voters needed to know that, without cuts, “the alternative is Greece”.

In his failed bid to succeed his late twin as president, Jaroslaw Kaczynski attacked PO reform plans and presented himself as a more economically progressive candidate. But analysts say he will need more than that to repeat next year the success of the election run-off, in which he polled 47 per cent.

Post-election analysis suggested the PiS leader – as just one of two run-off candidates – benefited disproportionately in the poll by the absence of two traditional strongholds of anti-PiS feeling: students and urban voters, both presumed to be on holiday.

“One vulnerability in the future for PiS is that the sympathy vote for Mr Kaczynski will decrease with time,” said Piotr Kaczynski, analyst with Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels.