Buzek appointment raises council deputies' hackles
Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek dissolved the governing council of Warsaw's Gmina Centrum last week and appointed Andrzej Herman as its emergency administrator for the next two years.
Buzek's decision came as the result of a longstanding conflict between the gmina's council and Antoni Pietkiewicz, the head of the Mazowieckie province where Warsaw is located. Pietkiewicz claimed the gmina was not functioning properly and the council had lost its effectiveness to govern its seven districts.
The Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) opposition and the Freedom Union (UW), Solidarity Election Action's (AWS) junior partner in the national ruling coalition, which had earlier created a coalition at the local Warsaw level, said last week that Buzek's move to install a central administrator was an attempt to limit self-government.
But Pietkiewicz said that, "There is subtle line between self-government and having carte blanche to do whatever you want."
According to Andrzej Smirnow, AWS deputy for the Srodmiescie district within Gmina Centrum, the prime minister's decision is justifiable because it attacks special interest alliances. "There is no other reason for the coalition of the SLD and the UW than the previously agreed distribution of posts," he said.
Gmina Centrum, the nation's wealthiest and most powerful gmina, was set up in June 1994 as a result of Warsaw's administrative reform. In March 1994, Parliament decided Warsaw would consist of 11 gminas, with the largest, Gmina Centrum, comprising seven districts. The Gmina's planned income for 2000 is zl. 1.7 billion ($397 million).
The political clashes within Gmina Centrum, which Pietkiewicz claims have made its ability to effectively govern impossible, reached their peak at the beginning of April when the local SLD-UW coalition elected Pawel Piskorski (UW) as mayor of Warsaw. Just hours after the mayor's election, the coalition picked a post-communist, Jan Wieteska, as head of Gmina Centrum. Pietkiewicz vetoed this choice, claiming Wieteska was elected at an illegally held session. Members of Gmina Centrum's council responded by appealing to the Supreme Administrative Court (NSA).
While the prime minister's decision caused a storm on the political scene, Buzek's opponents found consolation in their claim that the prime minister's decree might not be final. Members of the Gmina Centrum council say Buzek's decision is not legal, and they have again appealed to the NSA to overturn it.
"If I get any orders from the administrator (Andrzej Herman), I will not obey," said Piotr Fogler, head of the Wola district within Gmina Centrum. "The prime minister and the administrator are not my superiors as they are not part of the self-governing bodies." The Gmina Centrum council announced last week that until the NSA issues its decision, the council will continue to function regardless of the prime minister's decree.
According to Smirnow, gmina deputies are reacting "hysterically" to the decision. He said he had heard they were even destroying documents. "Of course we need legal proof for that," he said. Smirnow also said the deputies would calm down at some point. "If they don't accept the prime minister's orders, it will mean that the state has no authority. Gminas are not isolated from other state bodies," he said.
Before the executive board of Gmina Centrum was elected, it was Pawel Piskorski, as mayor and president of the Warsaw, who acted as the gmina's one-person executive organ.
However, a recent amendment to the Warsaw Act, which describes how self-governing bodies within the city should function, separated the duties of the city's president and Gmina Centrum's executive board. Under the act, which came into effect last December, Gmina Centrum council members had to elect Centrum's executive board by May 17. If they missed this date, new elections would have to be held. But before the deadline, Pietkiewicz asked the interior affairs minister to approach the prime minister to appoint an emergency administrator for Gmina Centrum.
Last week, furious council members were certain the NSA's decision would support both their appeals.
"Even if the NSA agrees with Pietkiewicz, according to the law new elections (for Centrum) should be held," Fogler said. "But AWS doesn't want new elections because it fears it will lose them, that's why Buzek's decision is purely political."
Smirnow said that when emotions abate, people would see the positive aspects of the prime minister's decision. "Considering the current structure of Warsaw's authorities, where responsibilities of various bodies overlap, the appointment of an administrator might result in a faster and more effective decision-making process," he said.
Meanwhile, Centrum council members claimed that the prime minister's decree didn't suspend the councils of the seven districts. If this is true, the district councils could make the new administrator's life a nightmare.
