The cabinet reshuffle
The new minister, 54, has worked with a number of think tanks, including the CASE Foundation and the Gdańsk Institute for Market Economics (IBnGR), since returning to the country in 1998. His academic career includes stints at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and Charles University, Prague. Gronicki, who is fluent in English, Russian and Spanish, has also worked with the World Bank, the United Nations and other international institutions.
He replaces Andrzej Raczko, who is off to Washington to take up a "very senior position" at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to Prime Minister Marek Belka, who last Thursday announced the government's first reshuffle after less than a month in office.
Health Minister Marian Czakański also resigned on the same day as Raczko and has been replaced by Marek Balicki, once Belka's colleague in Leszek Miller's Cabinet. Balicki is a member of the Polish Social Democracy (SdPl), a splinter group from the ruling Democratic Left Alliance (SLD). His nomination is yet another twist in the short history of SdPl, a party that has managed to maintain that it is an opposition force while still voting for the government and having supplied ministers from among its ranks.
The reshuffle caused a measure of nervousness on the markets, a sign that the new Cabinet is failing in its declared objective of bringing political stability to the country prior to the next parliamentary elections.
He replaces Andrzej Raczko, who is off to Washington to take up a "very senior position" at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to Prime Minister Marek Belka, who last Thursday announced the government's first reshuffle after less than a month in office.
Health Minister Marian Czakański also resigned on the same day as Raczko and has been replaced by Marek Balicki, once Belka's colleague in Leszek Miller's Cabinet. Balicki is a member of the Polish Social Democracy (SdPl), a splinter group from the ruling Democratic Left Alliance (SLD). His nomination is yet another twist in the short history of SdPl, a party that has managed to maintain that it is an opposition force while still voting for the government and having supplied ministers from among its ranks.
The reshuffle caused a measure of nervousness on the markets, a sign that the new Cabinet is failing in its declared objective of bringing political stability to the country prior to the next parliamentary elections.
