Details, please

   At last one Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) official found it within himself last week to step down off his soap box to say what most of us already know, that "2002 will not be the year of fulfilling social promises."

   So came the words of senior SLD member Marek Borowski, who wisely heeded warnings by Economy Minister Janusz Steinhoff that next year's budget gap would swell further – to 4.5% of GDP from last year's 3.9% – and what that bit of news means for SLD's spending proposals (assuming the party wins September's parliamentary elections, of course). Steinhoff's announcement also makes any more cuts in interest rates unlikely – beyond those expected when the Monetary Policy Council (RPP) meets later this month – as these would only stoke inflation, a prospect the RPP, as long as it remains independent in such matters, cannot allow. Also bad news for SLD, which has blamed the nation's stifling borrowing rates for choking the economy.

   But while Borowski's comment is an indication his party may finally realize it cannot continue to berate the present government interminably, it in no way addresses the heart of the issue confronting this cakewalk of a campaign season: what SLD proposes to do to solve Poland's myriad problems.

   In this week's interview (see pages 8-9), Wieslaw Kaczmarek, the former privatization minister in the previous SLD-led government and the man widely considered to take up the post of treasury minister in the next one, holds forth on a range of issues. On privatization, Kaczmarek criticizes Solidarity Election Action's (AWS) handling of sell-offs or proposed sales of Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen (PZU), Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA), LOT Polish Airlines, Powszechna Kasa Oszczednosci Bank Polski (PKO BP) and the sugar and oil sectors. He derides policy that calls for plugging holes in the budget with privatization revenue, saying that "you have to move from the philosophy that privatization is a remedy for budget problems." Well, that would be nice. But under what rock does Poland look to find zl. 18 billion ($4.3 billion) to finance the void left by this year's unsold assets?

   The point is not to pretend that AWS hasn't committed any sins during the past four years, indeed it has – and in this case Kaczmarek is dead on: "The last four years have proven that many managers appointed by the government were glaringly incompetent." But where does SLD take the country from here?

   Poland needs wise, cohesive leadership that will – dare we say – put partisanship aside and act in the best interests of the country it is elected to lead. Kaczmarek, while at no loss for words on how the current government has screwed up, seems to find it tough to cite any specifics about his party's policies for turning things around. Too bad this year's race isn't a close one, otherwise we might see politicians on all sides scrambling to come up with concrete ideas to peddle to an increasingly skeptical public.