Pundits comment on new government line-up
14:46
The announcement of the new government line-up formed by Law and Justice (PiS) was followed by a wave of opinions by economists, journalists and academics.
Piotr Kuczyński from investment house, Xelion praised the new Minister of Development, Matuesz Morawiecki who stepped down from heading commercial lender BZW WBK to become the minister. "One doesn't simply get appointed as the CEO of a bank because of political backing, but due to his competence," Kuczyński said.
In his opinion, however, raising PLN 40 million through increasing the effectiveness of tax collection, as it was announced by PiS, is impossible to achieve in the first year. "Several million złotys is possible," he added.
Economist Marek Zuber said that the biggest challenges Morawiecki is faced with in the next four years are of key importance for the Polish economy. He expressed concern that both Morawiecki and Finance Minister, Paweł Szałamacha have experience in the private sector, but they lack political support.
Journalist Jan Wróbel was pleased with the new government line-up. "I am happy that professional politicans will become ministers." He said that he "responds positively" to the nominations of Antoni Macierewicz, Zbgniew Ziobro and Witold Waszczykowski as these figures contributed to the electoral success of PiS.
Dominika Wielowieyska from Gazeta Wyborcza disagreed with Wróbel. According to her, the selection of Antoni Macierewicz as the Defense Minister is a "huge misfortune" for Poland and disgrace on the international arena. "The politican is extremely flippant and incompetent... It was him who turned the tragedy of the 2010 Smoleńsk air crash into a grotesque spectacle." Wielowieyska was referring to the fact that Macierewicz has been the proponent of conspiracy theories about Russia's involvement in the accident.
Professor Aleksander Smolar said that the new government will "put pressure on private media." He thinks that the position of Prime Minister Beata Szydło is very weak and she will be merely a messenger between ministries and the head of PiS, Jarosław Kaczyński.
According to journalist Jacek Żakowski, "PiS gave everything it had." However, in his opinion, the government is poor from the point of view of state interest.
