A good year for Poland

It has been a great year for Poland. The world crisis has not wreaked havoc here, although the fallout has lightly shaken the Polish economy. The government's downward revision of its 2009 GDP forecast - from five percent to 3.8 percent - is not that bad, considering that the giants of the European Union have planned for almost zero growth.

It was extremely fortunate that Poland managed to change its government in 2007. Poles were thoroughly fed up with the former governing coalition, an unruly triumvirate consisting of the conservative Law and Justice (PiS), ultra-conservative League of Polish Families and populist Self-defense parties. Thanks to the 2007 elections, a stable and united coalition of Christian-Democrats and Agrarians has been in office - parties in favor of Europe and of modernization.

This coalition, comprising Civic Platform (PO) and the Polish Peasants' Party (PSL), has made a great leap forward despite internal and external barriers. Poland is no longer treated as an unenlightened European backwater.

Greenspan and Kaczyński. Guilty!

A year ago, when I wrote about my hopes for 2008, I did not expect a world crisis. I don't feel guilty, however, since financial guru Alan Greenspan himself shrugged helplessly before the US Congress, admitting that he had not foreseen the crash and that there was a "flaw" in his ideology. If this flaw had not existed, then the economic situation in Poland would be even better.

I also did not foresee that President Lech Kaczyński (twin brother of PiS leader Jarosław) would decide to clearly demonstrate his (and his brother's) existence by vetoing much PO-PSL-drafted legislation aimed at modernizing the country. In spite of the fact that the president and his brother's party have blocked as many bills as possible, the government still managed to pass a number of key reforms.

A political sprint

Throughout the year, the governing coalition prepared a legislative leap forward. After 19 years of democratization, the Polish army is in the process of professionalizing and a number of bureaucratic absurdities standing in the way of business activity have been done away with.

Polish foreign policy, as overseen by Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, can at last celebrate triumphs in European and international salons, while Poland's finances, as managed by Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski, are in good shape compared to other EU countries. Rostowski will keep a tight rein on next year's budget, which assumes a significant decrease in the budget deficit. Meanwhile, the Health Ministry has prepared revolutionary changes which will commercialize healthcare.

To the despair of journalists specializing in domestic politics, there have been no spectacular quarrels, smears or plots within the governing coalition and there have been few sensations to report, aside from the speeches of PiS members criticizing everything which their party wasn't involved in.

A social revolution

It is the average Polish citizen, however, who has begun to feel that a real revolution has occurred. Statistically, the average Pole's income in 2008 grew by around 11 percent. It is also easier to find work - according to Eurostat, unemployment in Poland is at 6.5 percent, the lowest level for 17 years. Unemployment in Poland is lower than in Ireland.

Poland's Parliament has passed laws intended to abolish many early retirement programs, to extend maternity leave, to introduce paid two-week paternity leave. And a law is now being prepared to make construction within city limits easier.

Six-year-olds will soon go to school and new teachers will receive considerably higher salaries. In every municipality (gmina), "Eaglets" will be created - modern sports fields for youth with full facilities, and from next year, the distribution of laptops to schoolchildren will start under the "Laptop for every pupil" program.

New legislation is in force which has introduced significantly more effective means of collecting money from deadbeat parents and the poor may count on free legal advice before a trial commences.

I could list even more, if only the editor would give me three or four pages for my article. And if it was not for Greenspan and the Kaczyńskis, we would be even further ahead with reforms.
 

Joanna Wóycicka is the former head of the foreign sections of the Życie Warszawy and Życie newspapers and the former head of the foreign department at the Polish Press Agency (PAP).