Learning the truth
Some two weeks ago Self-defense (SO) leader Andrzej Lepper scolded Law and Justice (PiS) for trying to lure his Deputies into switching sides and backing its ruling coalition, which was desperately seeking support in the Sejm. Last week, independent television station TVN revealed the blunt truth of these discussions, when it broadcast secretly taped negotiations between SO's Deputy Renata Beger and PiS' Adam Lipiński.
In the tapes, Lipiński asks Beger what she wants in return for joining PiS, and Beger names the title of Secretary of State at the Ministry of Agriculture as her price. Lipiński accepts, telling her it is "no problem," and also offers to find ways of helping Beger resolve her legal problems. Seeing this evidence of the reality of Polish political negotiations has shocked the nation, leading to a political crisis that could precipitate early parliamentary elections.
The opposition is calling these backroom dealings "political corruption," but President Lech Kaczyński stated that this phrase was an "abuse of semantics." In a televised address, Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński stressed that calling the discussions corruption is "a lie" and "hypocrisy."
"There is nothing inappropriate in the fact that a politician who would like to support the government is offered a seat. It is rather unethical to tape private conversations of Deputies," Lipiński said.
Some eight Deputies have already fled Self-defense to back PiS. However, Andrzej Lepper wants the Deputies who left his party to pay their dues: zł.552,000, according to promissory notes - formal IOUs - which each Deputy was required to sign to last year. Most of the debt was to be waived at the end of the term, provided the Deputies did not leave the party.
In response to Beger's fears that she would have to pay this penalty, Adam Lipiński assured her that his party was considering setting up a fund to cover the expense for SO Deputies who decided to join PiS. Theoretically, he added, the money could be drawn from the Sejm. The next day after the recording was aired, Lipiński explained that he only meant that the Parliament should collectively support Deputies blackmailed by the promissory notes, while the creation of the fund was an informal, non-binding and, anyway, unfeasible proposal.
PiS' standing in the polls dropped sharply after the scandal, and the opposition is demanding snap elections. The Sejm will vote on dissolution during its next sitting, and in the meantime PiS will attempt to seal its majority.
