Poland: Loyalty Over Experience in the Cabinet

Summary

Aleksander Szczyglo will be nominated to become Poland's new defense minister, filling the spot recently resigned by Radoslaw Sikorski, Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Feb. 6. Kaczynski is replacing a highly experienced and capable defense minister with a party loyalist, further consolidating the grip on top government posts enjoyed by the prime minister and his twin brother, Polish President Jaroslaw Kaczynski. The move also deprives Poland of its best and toughest negotiator with the United States as large deals with Washington loom.

Analysis

Aleksander Szczyglo will be nominated to be Poland's defense minister, replacing Radoslaw Sikorski, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Feb. 6 in an interview with Polish Radio. Szczyglo is chief of staff to Polish President Lech Kaczynski, the prime minister's twin brother.

Though he lacks much experience in defense matters, Szczyglo is a longtime Kaczynski loyalist, offering the brothers control over defense matters they did not enjoy with Sikorski. The move also eliminates yet another roadblock to the Kaczynskis' consolidation of power, even if it eliminates their best and toughest negotiator with the United States.

Though he only held the post of defense minister for a little more than a year, Sikorski butted heads with both the prime minister and the president over most defense measures, from staff reform to international defense deals. Sikorski did not fear criticizing either Kaczynski regarding defense strategies or their purges of Communist-linked government officials, dubbed a witch hunt by the Polish press.

Government-sponsored Polish daily Nasz Dziennik reported that Sikorski has mishandled military contracts and that the government is investigating Sikorski's immigration status as well. In mid-2006, the prime minister and president made Antoni Macierewicz deputy of defense, responsible for the military's counterintelligence agency. Macierewicz reportedly worked around Sikorski, reporting only to the twins. Sikorski requested that Macierewicz be replaced -- finally rupturing his own relationship with the brothers Kaczynski. Sikorski resigned Feb. 5, citing too many obstacles to conduct his job as he saw fit.

His replacement, Szczyglo, moonlighted in the defense arena for just a few months when he served as deputy secretary of defense under Sikorski. Szczyglo has been close with the government leaders for more than 20 years. He has held two terms in parliament, representing Kaczynski's nationalistic Law and Justice Party (PiS) and has served as the president's chief of staff for the past six months. Szczyglo is the twins' yes-man.

This is not the first time the Kaczynskis have replaced an experienced government minister with a loyalist. At the prime minister's request, Jaroslaw removed Deputy Prime Minster and Agriculture Minister Andrzej Lepper over a long-brewing dispute about agricultural spending and the future of Polish-Russian relations. Lepper belongs to the Self-Defense Party, the PiS' coalition partner; his dismissal caused the government to collapse. To the Kaczynskis' chagrin, no other party was willing to form a coalition government with the PiS, so Lepper was grudgingly reinstated to prevent fresh elections and Self-Defense was reinstated as coalition partner.

This coalition is far from stable, and both the president's and the prime minister's popularity is declining. The Kaczynski brothers' stubborn ways regularly prevent them from resolving issues within the coalition government or with opposition parties. Also to their detriment, they depend on each other's opinions above anything else, and reward those loyal to them.

The replacement of the defense minister with a loyalist comes as some tough decisions are arriving for the ministry. Poland is considering increasing its troop level in Afghanistan from 100 to 1,000, an idea that has not met with much enthusiasm among the Polish public. The U.S. proposal to establish a ballistic missile defense base in Poland also has proved controversial. Potentially contentious negotiations will begin in the coming weeks, during which Poland will be represented by its defense minister.

Sikorski would have been an excellent choice to represent Poland given his long history in dealing with the United States in both foreign policy and defense matters. Sikorski was deputy defense minister in 1992 and foreign minister in 1998, and worked at the American Enterprise Institute until being named defense minister in 2005. Though he is pro-U.S., he has been known to be a tough negotiator with Washington. Unlike the Kaczynskis, Sikorski said he only would allow the United States to build the base if it could guarantee Poland's future security -- especially since Russia is condemning the idea of the base.

If Szczyglo is approved for the post, which requires his own party's approval, along with the approval of one the PiS' coalition members, he will most likely bow to the United States in negotiations in an attempt to show that the Kaczynskis are Washington's best friend. The question remains whether the Kaczynskis and the PiS can survive betting their declining approval rating against keeping Washington happy./products/premium/read_article.php?id=283986