In no hurry

With the Euro 2012 soccer championships just around the corner, some 2,600 km of road needs to be built and another 4,000 km needs to be upgraded over the next five years. That's not to mention six brand-new, modern-standard stadiums, upgraded rail infrastructure and a host of preparations required to deal with the influx of perhaps a million visitors for the event - and plans have yet to get off the ground.

Instead of working to get Poland's infrastructure up to snuff, the one road Poland's government is intent on building is through the Rospuda Valley - a project doomed to interminable legal wrangling in the EU. Resolving the issue could take years, and if the road is ever built, it will most likely be without the help of European Union structural funds. At the same time, thousands of kilometers of roadway which could be built with the EU's support have yet to even reach the project stage.

Meanwhile, the government is engaged in yet another battle of brinkmanship with its coalition partners, and looks to be heading towards fresh elections. Heading to the polls early will consume valuable time and money - even more so if those elections don't occur until spring, as the Prime Minister has proposed - that would be much better spent on drafting useful legislation. The political snarl will most certainly also delay any progress on Euro 2012 preparations.

Poland has become accustomed to a government hamstrung by controversy and a constant sense of crisis. So far, this hasn't managed to derail Poland's economic progress. But as time passes, the continuing delays will only make matters worse. Why Poland's leaders insist on engaging in drawn-out battles instead of setting to work on useful legislation is an interesting question for pundits to debate, but one thing is for certain: It's a tragedy for the Polish people that will be painfully apparent come kickoff time in 2012.