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  Gustav
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Thursday, November 10, 2005

So happy together...

This is so very, very scary:

WBJ -

Self-defense and LPR to back the government in today's confidence vote

During a joint press conference organized by Self-Defense and the Polish Families' League (LPR), the leaders of the two parties, Andrzej Lepper and Roman Giertych both announced that they will support the government during the vote of confidence which is to take place today. This means that they have added 56 and 32 votes respectively to Law and Justice's (PiS) 154 votes. Therefore, the total number of supporting votes is currently 242, which is 11 above the required minimum. This means that the government can formally begin its work. The support from the parties came as a surprise to most journalists as both leaders earlier said they will make the decision after the Prime Minister presents his programme. The main question of the conference therefore was, what was the price of the deal. Giertych will become the head of the Sejm Commission for Special Services. Lepper's party will head three commissions: sport, environment and social politics.

4 Comments:



Blogger michael farris said...

Well, things are going pretty much as I thought it would. I predicted a Kaczynski presidential victory (when he was way behind in the polls) and I predicted nothing good following it. Being right is not always an unalloyed joy.

11/10/2005 04:06:00 PM  


Blogger Gustav said...

Thanks for the comment jannis, I'll stop by.

True michael. Though "scary" - I use that word often these days, but it fits the situation - this is not unexpected. What really shocked me were the pics on TV last night of Giertych and Lepper sitting side-by-side beaming and giggling. Such happy populists make me very nervous.

In his blueprint for his government today, Marcinkiewicz went on and on about family-leave extensions and one-time bonuses for child-bearing mothers - two key LPR demands.

Let me ask, if they really want people to start having children, why don't they clean up the public finances and make the job market more favorable! 1000 zlotys is a nice incentive, but it will only get me through one month with a child. Poles need to see a bright future ahead of them, and stable employment, before they start to repopulate.

11/10/2005 04:18:00 PM  


Blogger michael farris said...

A big reason for the low birth rate is that most employers don't want female employees who are liable to give birth (or already have small children).

Good luck on changing that.

11/10/2005 06:10:00 PM  


Blogger Gustav said...

I must admit that if I were an employer, I would definitely see the possibility that a new hire could shortly leave the job for an extended period of time for which I would have to continue paying salary, and for which I would also have to hire a replacement, and at the end of which it would probably be necessary to release that replacement in whom I had just invested a significant amount of money and time, only to be forced to take back that former new hire, who had then been out of the loop for several months - a significant negative in my considerations whether to take on a candidate for a position within my firm.

Don't call the lawyers yet - I don't have a company.

Of course, I believe women should not be punished for having children. Nor should they be deprived of important income when they do it.

The alternative is state support, and we know where that would lead: Bigger deficits and higher taxes.

So the question is: How do you make pregnancy business-friendly in the short term? (It is quite obviously business-friendly in the long term).

11/10/2005 09:17:00 PM  

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