SLD amendment to government operations law causes furor in Parliament

Parliament yesterday passed a controversial Democratic Left Alliance (SLD)-proposed amendment to a bill regulating government operations by just a few votes. The vote resulted in a furor in Parliament, with dissenting parties comparing the amendment to a coup d'etat. As a result of the amendement's provisions, the presidents of the Supreme Board of Inspection (NIK) and the National Bank of Poland (NBP) will lose the right to participate in cabinet meetings. The amendement also gives Cabinet the right to award the most important positions in the government administration to people outside of the civil service corps. According to Jan Rokita of the Civic Platform (PO), the amendment means that the Prime Minister can fill 40,000 positions in any way he chooses, with no outside influence. Prime Minister Leszek Miller denied that this would make much of a difference, stating that last year only 100 positions of 1,700 offered were filled by a civil service competition. (Rzeczpospolita, p. 1) P.W.