Post by pieter on Jun 17, 2007 4:34:12 GMT -7
Kwasniewski Comes Back
By M.M.
13 June 2007
Former President Aleksander Kwasniewski announced his return to Polish politics at a national convention of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) in Warsaw June 3.
Kwasniewski, a former SLD leader, agreed to head the Program Council of the Left and Democrats (LiD) bloc that the SLD formed before last year's local elections with the Polish Social Democracy (SDPL), the Labor Union (UP) and the Democratic Party (PD-demokraci.pl). The LiD Program Council will oversee the general political line of the bloc and formulate its policy priorities.
Kwasniewski said that LiD was a viable alternative to the ruling coalition. At the same time, he called for "dialogue" with the biggest right-of-center opposition party, the Civic Platform (PO).
Kwasniewski withdrew from political life after his second presidential term expired at the end of 2005. Back then, there was talk in the media that the outgoing president was seeking an international career. He was mentioned as a potential candidate to take over as secretary-general of either the United Nations or NATO. However, he never got those jobs.
Kwasniewski said he decided to head LiD's Program Council because the bloc was based on the principle of "harmony in diversity." According to him, the need to establish a center-leftist coalition is a "value in its own right" in today's Poland. At the same time, he warned against personal rivalry for leadership within LiD. "There is no doubt that all the co-founders of LiD are partners. Our adversaries are in the ruling coalition," said Kwasniewski.
He criticized the rightwing ruling coalition for failing to keep Poland in the mainstream of European politics as an EU member and for pursuing a "policy oriented toward history and directed against particular individuals and groups. Fortunately, the authorities are not messing with the economy, which is why it is thriving," said Kwasniewski.
He also said that he was in favor of "broader contacts with various communities and social movements that would support building a program that Poland needs in the 21st century." In this context, he mentioned the Movement for Democracy now being formed in Cracow and groups that signed the Declaration in Defense of Democracy at a meeting attended by two former presidents, Kwasniewski and Lech Walesa, at Warsaw University in May.
The SLD national convention, held June 2-3, lambasted the ruling coalition of Law and Justice (PiS), Samoobrona and the League of Polish Families (LPR). On the first day of the SLD convention, party leader Wojciech Olejniczak called the ruling team "a coalition of paranoiacs obsessed with persecuting imagined enemies." According to Olejniczak, the PiS-Samoobrona-LPR coalition is changing Poland for the worse, and should be deprived of its power. Olejniczak accused Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski of seeking to amend the constitution and subordinating the public media to government control. "The authorities are trying to restrict the independence of the courts, local governments and professional self-regulation bodies," said Olejniczak.
Olejniczak also criticized the PO, saying that the largest opposition party "did not differ in any respect" from PiS. Olejniczak described the PO as "a poor clone of PiS," adding that the only genuine opposition party today was the SLD. Olejniczak admitted that the SLD was troubled by "irregularities" in the past, but argued that his party had been able to learn from its own mistakes and by now it was "the most effectively renewed political party in Poland."
Kwasniewski toned down Olejniczak's critical assessment of the PO. He said LiD should "engage in a language of discourse" with the PO. "True, the Civic Platform is a competitor, but it should not become an adversary for us. It is a competitor, but also a partner for discussion," Kwa?niewski said.
Grzegorz Napieralski, secretary-general of the SLD, said the party would do its best to investigate possible cases of power abuse and infringing the law by prosecutor's offices, the police and special services controlled by the government. The SLD will demand that Antoni Macierewicz, head of the military counterintelligence service, and Zbigniew Ziobro, minister of justice, be brought before the Tribunal of State, Napieralski said. "The authorities cannot act with impunity, and they must be aware of that," he said.
Source: www.warsawvoice.pl/view/15041
By M.M.
13 June 2007
Former President Aleksander Kwasniewski announced his return to Polish politics at a national convention of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) in Warsaw June 3.
Kwasniewski, a former SLD leader, agreed to head the Program Council of the Left and Democrats (LiD) bloc that the SLD formed before last year's local elections with the Polish Social Democracy (SDPL), the Labor Union (UP) and the Democratic Party (PD-demokraci.pl). The LiD Program Council will oversee the general political line of the bloc and formulate its policy priorities.
Kwasniewski said that LiD was a viable alternative to the ruling coalition. At the same time, he called for "dialogue" with the biggest right-of-center opposition party, the Civic Platform (PO).
Kwasniewski withdrew from political life after his second presidential term expired at the end of 2005. Back then, there was talk in the media that the outgoing president was seeking an international career. He was mentioned as a potential candidate to take over as secretary-general of either the United Nations or NATO. However, he never got those jobs.
Kwasniewski said he decided to head LiD's Program Council because the bloc was based on the principle of "harmony in diversity." According to him, the need to establish a center-leftist coalition is a "value in its own right" in today's Poland. At the same time, he warned against personal rivalry for leadership within LiD. "There is no doubt that all the co-founders of LiD are partners. Our adversaries are in the ruling coalition," said Kwasniewski.
He criticized the rightwing ruling coalition for failing to keep Poland in the mainstream of European politics as an EU member and for pursuing a "policy oriented toward history and directed against particular individuals and groups. Fortunately, the authorities are not messing with the economy, which is why it is thriving," said Kwasniewski.
He also said that he was in favor of "broader contacts with various communities and social movements that would support building a program that Poland needs in the 21st century." In this context, he mentioned the Movement for Democracy now being formed in Cracow and groups that signed the Declaration in Defense of Democracy at a meeting attended by two former presidents, Kwasniewski and Lech Walesa, at Warsaw University in May.
The SLD national convention, held June 2-3, lambasted the ruling coalition of Law and Justice (PiS), Samoobrona and the League of Polish Families (LPR). On the first day of the SLD convention, party leader Wojciech Olejniczak called the ruling team "a coalition of paranoiacs obsessed with persecuting imagined enemies." According to Olejniczak, the PiS-Samoobrona-LPR coalition is changing Poland for the worse, and should be deprived of its power. Olejniczak accused Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski of seeking to amend the constitution and subordinating the public media to government control. "The authorities are trying to restrict the independence of the courts, local governments and professional self-regulation bodies," said Olejniczak.
Olejniczak also criticized the PO, saying that the largest opposition party "did not differ in any respect" from PiS. Olejniczak described the PO as "a poor clone of PiS," adding that the only genuine opposition party today was the SLD. Olejniczak admitted that the SLD was troubled by "irregularities" in the past, but argued that his party had been able to learn from its own mistakes and by now it was "the most effectively renewed political party in Poland."
Kwasniewski toned down Olejniczak's critical assessment of the PO. He said LiD should "engage in a language of discourse" with the PO. "True, the Civic Platform is a competitor, but it should not become an adversary for us. It is a competitor, but also a partner for discussion," Kwa?niewski said.
Grzegorz Napieralski, secretary-general of the SLD, said the party would do its best to investigate possible cases of power abuse and infringing the law by prosecutor's offices, the police and special services controlled by the government. The SLD will demand that Antoni Macierewicz, head of the military counterintelligence service, and Zbigniew Ziobro, minister of justice, be brought before the Tribunal of State, Napieralski said. "The authorities cannot act with impunity, and they must be aware of that," he said.
Source: www.warsawvoice.pl/view/15041
