Everyone scored in Poland's local elections

"Everybody Has Won" announces POLITYKA in its cover story referring to last weekend’s local elections in Poland. The Civic Platform (PO) scored big in major cities. The vote in provincial parliaments proved largely inconclusive as Law and Justice gained support thanks to the new election ordinance allowing for political parties to team up in ballot groups. This created a rather varied representation at county level and in rural constituencies. The center-left block turned out to be the third strongest force. Even the marginal Peasant Party has a noteworthy overall result. Thus, practically all have proclaimed some kind of election victory. But who shall REALLY rule throughout the country, wonders the weekly? The true alignment of power is yet to be seen and there could be many surprising alliances. The coupling of election lists is an important tool only at the stage of dividing seats. The issue of who shall vote for whom is left to the tactical philosophy of every individual party. The bargaining position of Law and Justice (PiS) shall remain strong. After all, it must be remembered that PiS holds the reigns of power at central level and shall be the decision maker on allocating EU funds for specific regions and nominating governors who suit it best in these key regional administration posts.
Another conclusion stemming from the local election results is that early parliamentary elections are a topic of the past. No political grouping gained sufficient advantage to display active interest in pressing for shortening the present term.

WPROST displays a hypothetic approach to Polish employment seekers who have emigrated to the UK, Ireland and other EU countries after May 1st, 2004 when Poland became a Union member. The magazine speculates that should the estimated 2 million workforce decide on returning, with each person taking on an average paid job in Poland, the country would gain an additional 3.8 billion zloties (roughly 1 billion euros) annually in Personal Income Tax, while state subsidies for the Social Insurance Office could be cut by 7 billion zloties (1.9 billion euros). This would be equivalent to reducing the current annual budget deficit by one third! But the most important profit from the ultimate return of the job seekers to their homeland would be ‘regaining’ a whole army of wealthier and more entrepreneurial people, who have acquired better work ethics and experienced the benefits of a well developed market economy. Under the condition, of course, that they will have the stimulus to return to Poland. Meanwhile, 80% of them regularly travel home to visit their family. 20% declare their intention of coming back for good after a longer or shorter period of emigration. 14% have made up their mind to stay permanently abroad.

NEWSWEEK POLSKA has a report on abortion practices in Poland, thirteen years after the introduction of the law on protecting unborn life. It is one of the most restrictive laws in this category in Europe. How are Polish women ‘coping with this problem’, asks Newsweek. Defining the true number of performed abortions ( the official figures are just a fraction of those quoted by various organizations and institutions) is a principle argument in the discussion between pro-choice and pro-life advocates. The Federation For Women and Family Planning claims the statistics reach 200 thousand annually, while the Association For The Protection of Human Life quotes abortion figures in the range of 7 to 13 thousand. Both estimates are alarming, given the official 400 thousand births and the stringency of the anti-abortion law in Poland. Data released by the Health Ministry speak of 225 legal abortions performed at hospitals and clinics. What are the conclusions? Both sides of the argument persist in their claims, as they have for long years. Meanwhile, abortion tourism to neighboring Belarus, for instance, continues to flourish with corrupt gynecologists competing for lower prices of their services.

The English language WARSAW BUSINESS JOURNAL writes about a media revelation of a potentially fatal drug mix up involving the Jelfa pharmaceutical plant in south-western Poland. Cases have been discovered of patients falling critically ill after taking Corhydron, a medicine used by asthma patients to quell allergic reactions. An investigation into the mislabeling of more than 5 thousand vials of an anesthetic with the Corhydron name, has revealed a yawning gap in the Polish legal system. Because of a series of ignored procedures, the National Pharmaceutical Inspector had not banned the drug from sales nor removed it from pharmacies, though the first signals of the problem had dated to February, while the alarm was raised by some hospitals at the end of October. The Health Minister admitted he had received the information from media reports. This lack of information flow has been the result of a gap in legal regulations on monitoring pharmaceutical production which had expired in mid-December 2005.

TYGODNIK POWSZECHNY, the catholic oriented weekly, headlines ‘Under US Wings’ its report on the arrival to Poland of the first four F-16 American fighter jets. It writes that a time has come for re-evaluation in Polish, US and European relations. The past week has brought two crucial events which might prove a breakthrough in the foreign policy of the current Law and Justice government. First, media attention was captured by the Prime Minister’s alleged concept of establishing European armed forces under NATO command. Then, before anyone managed to decipher the exact meaning of the proposition, public opinion became preoccupied with the US deputy ambassador in Warsaw. He drew a line for the Polish deputy premier’s freedom of speech past which, according to the American diplomat, there is no room for criticism of Polish military involvement in Iraq. Those incidents shall go down in memory as a point of departure for deeper reflection on Poland’s activity on the international arena, or the end of Polish chances for becoming an important and respected European nation, states Tygodnik Powszechny.
Source:polskieradio.pl