UPDATE - Withdrawal of troops from Iraq, modernizing the Polish army, investing in highways and a pay increase for teachers were just some of the achievements listed by PM Donald Tusk as he summed up his two and a half years in office to MPs today.
"I must admit that I feel special satisfaction when I think of the progress we have made, despite the ongoing economic crisis,” Tusk told parliamentarians in a debate on the government’s record called by the Democratic Left Alliance.
On success on the international stage, Tusk mentioned the nomination of former PM Jerzy Buzek as President of the European Parliament and negotiations surrounding the EU's climate package.
In Tusk’s view, Poland’s position in the international arena has been strengthened.
Combating the global finance crisis is one the ruling party’s biggest achievements, he said, a view shared by Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski,
"Of course, not all the results have been positive,” Rostowski said. “Unemployment has grown. It is a tragedy for individuals who have been left jobless and cannot quickly find another post, as well as for their families. We are aware of this."
Promises, promises…
Leader of the SLD, Grzegorz Napieralski, accused the government of failing to fulfill their promises, and above all, of not dismantling much of what they see as the mess left behind by the previous, Law and Justice government.
He did, however, declare that his party is ready to cooperate with the coalition on such matters as the reform of the Pension Act and legislation on state-funded IVF treatment.
Napieralski said that the government has failed to liquidate the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau and reform the functions of the Institute of National Remembrance, both institutions he accused of acting in a political role favourable to the Law and Justice party.
Law and Justice MP Aleksandra Natalii-Świat criticized the government's handling of the economic crisis, which she said has come at the price of increased unemployment.
Aleksandra Natalii-Świat also said that the planned highway construction in Poland has yet to materialise. Dismantling the shipbuilding industry also cost the nation half a billion zloty, she said.
“The government is good at making promises - that‘s all,” she concluded.
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