Another blow to the coalition

Just a month after League of Polish Families (LPR) associates were found to be taking part in neo-Nazi rallies, the other junior coalition member Self-defense is mired in scandal. Aneta Krawczyk, a former employee at the office of party deputy Stanisław Łyżwiński, claims that she had to sleep with her boss as well as with party leader Andrzej Lepper to get the job. Both Lepper and his right-hand man Łyżwiński deny the accusations of sexual impropriety.

Krawczyk also claims that Łyżwiński is the father of her three-and-a-half-year-old child and that, when she was pregnant, he tried to convince her to get rid of the baby.

"I didn't have any sexual relations with Aneta Krawczyk, nor with any other employees from my office," Łyżwinśki said. The results of a paternity test on Krawczyk's child should be known this week.

Lepper has his own explanation of why the accusations have only now come to light. "It is a far-reaching conspiracy," the Minister of Agriculture said. He claims that the aim of the conspiracy is to block the work of the Central Anti-corruption Bureau (CBA), the choosing of the new president of the central bank, and to cause the breakup of the ruling coalition. He accused Adam Michnik, the editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, the daily which broke the story, of being part of the conspiracy.

The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) said that if the allegations of sexual misconduct are confirmed, Lepper would lose his job and PiS might end cooperation with Self-defense and call early elections. But the party underlined that it would wait until the prosecution's verdict.

Civic Platform (PO) claims that this government has already discredited itself. Last Friday it appealed to PiS to remove Lepper and LPR leader Roman Giertych from the government. In return PO is ready to support next year's budget and hold up the minority government, which would rule until early elections next spring. PO also wants to introduce an amendment to the Constitution that would make it impossible for those convicted of a crime to run for Parliament.

"PO's proposals give a real chance of helping the Polish state get out of the deepest ethical and political crisis of recent years," PO's Donald Tusk said.

However, Interior Minister Ludwik Dorn threw cold water on the idea Friday, saying PiS had rejected PO's proposal.