Editor's note: Now what?

Law and Justice (PiS) created the government on its own. The winning party wasn't to reach an agreement with Civic Platform (PO) - the second-biggest party in the new Sejm. PO decided that instead of co-governing Poland, it will remain in opposition. It prefers to control PiS' moves rather than take responsibility for governing. The reason? According to PO, PiS' economic program cannot be carried out and, in the long run, is even detrimental to the country. PiS' whole electoral campaign was based on criticizing PO's liberal economic solutions juxtaposed with PiS' proposals for the state to take good care of the poorest, excluded part of society.

In order to win the confidence vote on Thursday, and to govern and pass new laws, PiS now has to count on the support of populist parties that made it to the Sejm, which means the party has to strike a deal with Andrzej Lepper, the leader of Self-defense.

That doesn't bode well. Lepper is an extreme populist, overusing harmful slogans that - should someone actually implement them - would lead Poland astray. However, nothing is for free in politics. If Lepper supports PiS, immediately a question arises - at what price? To what extent will PiS decide to pay its political dues and agree to implement part of Lepper's absurd program?

So far, the question remains unanswered. Theoretically we know everything about the new government, but in fact we know nothing.

We don't know how PiS plans to achieve its economic program. The key posts in the economy-related Ministries are occupied by people unknown to markets or public opinion. (We present their profiles on pages 6-8.) Nothing wrong with that, but the market needs concretes. We hope that as soon as the new government wins the confidence vote, both the new Finance and Economy Ministers will inform the public about their plans in more detail. I wish the government all the best. It is in the Polish economy's best interest to end the political quarrels and get down to the business of reforms. 

Eliza Durka

Editor-in-chief