One year on

Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government was officially appointed by President Lech Kaczyński and sworn in on November 16, 2007, following the Civic Platform (PO) party's victory in the parliamentary elections a month earlier. The party was given a strong mandate based on criticism of the previous Law and Justice (PiS) led government.

Also key to the electoral victory were a number of ambitious campaign promises, particularly those concerning political and economic reforms aimed at addressing some of the country's major problems and facilitating future development. The party also promised a new style of governing that would be more conciliatory and less confrontational than that of its predecessor. These promises helped secure broad public support that continues today.

As the anniversary of the government's first year in office approached, however, the performance of the Civic Platform-Polish Peasants' Party (PSL) coalition came under scrutiny, both by the opposition and the media. In response, Prime Minister Tusk's cabinet and party stepped up legislative efforts in a bid to deliver on their many election promises and preserve the party's popularity in the polls.

Public support for the government remains remarkably high for the moment, but it may already have begun to wane.

Promises, promises

The present government came to power with arguably one of the most ambitious political agendas in Poland's post-communist history. It promised to awaken Poland's dormant potential, to make full use of the country's EU membership and to make Poland a "second Ireland." In other words, PO promised to perform an economic miracle.

In his inaugural address, Prime Minister Tusk also announced the beginning of a new "political contract," ushering in an era of improved relations between the government and society.

"The word 'trust' will be the motto of not just this speech, but also, I hope, of our whole term and the whole period during which I and my colleagues govern. This trust has become the foundation of Poles' new political contract. This October 21, the result of the elections, which was surprising for many, has in fact become a new great political contract for Poles. I will try to fulfill [the terms of] this contract as best I can," Tusk pledged.

On the last day of the 2007 parliamentary campaign, then-party leader Tusk signed 10 major commitments that his party pledged to fulfill during the upcoming parliamentary term. These included promises to accelerate Poland's economic growth, to increase wages in the public sector, to develop the country's network of highways and to reform the healthcare system. Tusk also stressed his intention to introduce a flat income tax, to bring home the Polish military mission in Iraq and to tackle the problem of corruption.

Legislative offensive

This high-profile agenda built up public expectations but, in order for the promises to be kept, numerous amendments need to be made to Polish law. Meanwhile, the ruling coalition could not be credited with any notable legislative activity until recently. Eighty-four bills were introduced into the Sejm in the first two months of its current term, but only six were enacted as laws in that period.

Faced with criticism that it had been inactive during its first 100 days in power, the government replied earlier this year that its effectiveness should not be measured by the number of laws enacted and that, in any case, it preferred to scrap old regulations than add new ones.

An ambitious attempt at defusing further criticism of inactivity was made in October, when the government launched a legislative offensive which, by the end of this month, is expected to see the passage of some 140 bills divided into four major areas: deregulation; social policy; administrative and political matters; and economic and financial matters.

One area in which the Sejm has already adopted legislation is healthcare reform. PO politicians regard this reform as one of the government's most important achievements to date.

"One can certainly say that the government has fulfilled its commitment. That is a measure of the hard work that has been done for the country's sake," Sejm Speaker Bronisław Komorowski recently told the press. "This has been a year of hard work, which is now starting to bear fruit," he added.

Komorowski pointed to the fact that the government had kept its promise to withdraw the Polish military contingent from Iraq and said that the PO-PSL coalition's first year in power had seen the rebuilding of Poland's position within the EU.

Just a gimmick?

According to the opposition, however, the government's recent legislative offensive is nothing more than a public relations gimmick meant to convince the public that the ruling coalition is working hard. Both PiS and Democratic Left Alliance politicians have repeated the accusation that few of the many bills proposed actually tackle important issues or provide substantive changes. PiS members have also accused the ruling coalition of copying some of the previous government's ideas.

"We are afraid that it is all about public relations, as has often been the case with the PO government, showing bags under Donald Tusk's eyes, tired from working on the legislation, and nothing more," PiS deputy Mariusz Błaszczak told a press conference in September after the legislative offensive had been announced.

Marek Migalski, a political scientist at the University of Silesia, held a similar opinion. He said that the fact that bills were introduced in the Sejm as late as this autumn, rather than at the beginning of the year, showed that PO had not been prepared to keep its promises when it came to power last year and testified to the legislative push's character as a PR move.

"The first year of PO's leadership was certainly disappointing, especially for its own electorate," said Migalski. He added that the party had neither fulfilled its economic promises, nor had it had any significant success in the field of foreign policy.

According to the Business Centre Club (BCC), which claims to be the largest organization of private employers in Poland, the PO-PSL government has so far fully or partially realized just 28 out of 172 draft bills presented by either Economy Minister Waldemar Pawlak or PO deputy Janusz Palikot's "FriendlyState" commission. According to the BCC, that's a 16 percent success rate so far.

"One year of the PO-PSL coalition being in power shows that the government is not, and will probably not be in the future, the bringer of the 'economic miracle' which PO promised," said a special BCC report earlier this month. "It is obviously not true, as its political opponents both inside and outside Parliament claim, that the government has not done anything and is not fulfilling its election promises. But the pace of change, especially in the economy, is too slow," the report added.

The winds of change

How do ordinary Poles feel about the PO-PSL government? Support for the ruling coalition is still high, but there have been some signs recently that that is beginning to change. A CBOS poll conducted in October, for example, found that 47 percent of respondents thought the government was working well, a three percent m/m decrease, while 39 percent said the opposite, marking a five percent m/m increase in negative sentiment.

According to Migalski, support for PO remains high because of a number of factors, including the lack of a strong opposition party and the country's relatively good economic situation. It is also significant, he said, that support for the party is "fashionable" and the majority of Polish media evinces a clear pro-PO bias. That, however, does not mean that the government should take its support for granted.

"Governments usually wear out in the second year of their rule. Next year is going to be the real test for PO," said Migalski.

The Ten Commitments

Civic Platform's election promises

1. We will speed up economic prosperity and take advantage of it
2. We will significantly raise pay in the public sector and increase pensions and social benefits
3. We will build a modern network of freeways, expressways, bridges and bypasses
4. We will guarantee free access to medical care and abolish the NFZ (National Health Fund)
5. We will simplify the tax system - we will introduce a flat tax with a pro-family relief and abolish over 200 administrative fees
6. We will speed up the construction of stadiums for Euro 2012
7. We will quickly complete our mission in Iraq
8. We will encourage Poles who have emigrated to return home and invest in Poland
9. We will raise the quality of education and improve access to the internet
10. We will take up a real fight against corruption