PM Miller makes changes in his government
Prime Minister Leszek Miller took opportunity of Finance Minister Marek Belka's resignation and surprisingly recalled two other ministers as well, Culture Minister Andrzej Celinski and Justice Minister Barbara Piwnik. Celinski had filed his own resignation, officially saying he wanted to be professionally active in another field, while the dismissal of Piwnik had been initiated by the Prime Minister. "I regard it as necessary," was the only comment Miller had. Miller proposed and the President accepted Waldemar Dabrowski for the new Culture Minister, and Grzegorz Kurczuk for Justice Minister. This opened field to wide-ranging and varied speculations for the reasons of these decisions, and according to some sources, these dismissals were a consequence of PM's meeting with regional heads of his party, the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), who also very much supported Grzegorz Kolodko for new Finance Minister. Kurczuk is the leader of the Lublin region's SLD, an MP and a member of the party's national board. He used to be one of the candidates for the position of Justice Minister last autumn, when Miller was forming his new government. Recently, Kurczuk, who is the head of the Sejm's legal commission, had very harshly criticised the government for its liberal policies. Choosing Kurczuk, Miller was probably seeking support of local SLD. Celinski, although sitting in the national authorities of SLD, used to be a democratic opposition activist and as such, might not be fully trusted by the local SLD heads. Dabrowski, a former head of state cinematography committee and of the State Agency for Foreign Investment (PAIZ), as well as director of the National opera, is a politically unaffiliated culture manager. Replacement of Piwnik and Celinski with Kurczuk and Dabrowski was said to be a condition at which President Aleksander Kwasniewski agreed to accept the candidacy of Kolodko for the new Finance Minister. Without Belka, Kwasniewski's position in the government would be much weaker. However, nomination of Dabrowski, who is believed to be connected to the President (and is a friend of the well-known private businessman Jan Kulczyk), for the new Culture Minister, would not change that. We believe the changes in the government might signal a new stage in the conflict between Miller and Kwasniewski. It might suggest a shift away from "socialist liberalism" to "post-communist conservatism". kp,bb
Źródło:Polski IntelliNews
