UW calls for AWS to name new premier
At press time Friday, negotiations between the government's two coalition partners, Solidarity Election Action (AWS) and the Freedom Union (UW) verged on the brink of disaster when UW's executive board declared that it would not discuss a future government program until a new candidate for prime minister was announced.
"It's either a provocation or a crisis within UW's board," Marian Krzaklewski, AWS leader and presidential candidate told Radio Plus Friday morning. "We agreed to a certain schedule of talks (to the first debate on the future government program) with (UW Finance Minister Leszek) Balcerowicz so either he didn't present it to his party or he was overruled."
While most AWS members said last week they supported Krzaklewski as the coalition government's new prime minister, the UW was less than supportive. "If Krzaklewski is the AWS candidate, then UW will withdraw from the coalition," the UW's Wladyslaw Frasyniuk said. According to Krzaklewski, though, it's always been the UW that has pushed him to become prime minister. "I'm asking what has changed since that time?" Krzaklewski said. "It's murderous politics." Krzaklewski added that he's ready to become the new prime minister should the coalition decide to elect him.
At press time Friday, the two parties' leaders, Krzaklewski and Balcerowicz, were to meet again to discuss possible candidates for the premiership.
The UW, which on May 17 told AWS that it would leave the ruling coalition, last week withdrew its ministers from the government. Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek, however, refused to accept their resignations, saying they should feel more responsibility to the state than to their party.
Meanwhile, the issue of Buzek's appointment of Andrzej Herman as sole administrator of Warsaw's Gmina Centrum which set off the coalition crisis was further complicated by Herman's resignation last Thursday. The resignation meant a day of triumph for the dissolved governing council and suspended board of Gmina Centrum, which is controlled by a coalition of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and the UW. On Friday it wasn't clear who was in charge of Warsaw's Gmina Centrum, but the suspended executive board did move back to its offices.
Herman's decision to resign resulted from a Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) resolution last Thursday that essentially blocked his powers as an administrator. According to the NSA, Buzek's appointment of an administrator for Gmina Centrum would only become legal 30 days after the decision was taken. Since the appointment of an administrator was immediately appealed by the SLD-UW coalition, it could be legally valid only after NSA's final ruling on the legality of Buzek's decision. And that could take as long as one month.
