Kaczynski ally is Poland's new foreign minister

POLAND: Former Solidarity activist Anna Fotyga was named as Poland's new foreign minister yesterday, amid student protests at the entry into government of two populist parties known for hostility towards the European Union.

"I can confirm that Anna Fotyga will be the new foreign minister," a government spokesman said, ahead of an official announcement due late last night.

Ms Fotyga (49) is seen as a close ally of President Lech Kaczynski, whose twin brother, Jaroslaw, runs the conservative Law and Justice party that forged a controversial alliance last week with the fringe groups Self Defence and the League of Polish Families.

That deal secured a parliamentary majority for the government, but prompted the resignation of veteran diplomat Stefan Meller as foreign minister and stoked fears that Poland was slipping from the EU's liberal mainstream. Many of those fears centre on Andrzej Lepper, the Self Defence leader, who made his name organising anti-EU protests before Poland became the bloc's largest new member in May 2004.

Just days after becoming a deputy prime minister under the coalition deal, a Warsaw court slapped the pugnacious Mr Lepper with a fine and a 15-month suspended jail sentence for slandering opponents - his sixth sentence for slander in 12 years.

The prime minister, Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, admitted yesterday that the case created a "very negative and uncomfortable situation".

"I do hope that Lepper will use his position in the government to show how one can work hard and well and change the country," the premier added.

His comments came as some 1,500 Polish students rallied in Warsaw against the inclusion in the ruling coalition of Self Defence and the far-right League of Polish Families, whose leader, Roman Giertych, was named education minister.

"Mr Giertych recently spoke about 'purging schools' and to us these are fascist opinions and we are protesting against his presence in government," said Aleksandra Kretkowska, an organiser of the protest.

Former left-wing Warsaw mayor Marcin Swiecski added: "Giertych embodies protests against Poland's membership of the European Union. We are here to defend an open, tolerant and pro-European school system."

Mr Giertych is also stridently opposed to homosexuality and abortion, which the leaders of Law and Justice have also spoken out against.

Like Mr Lepper, he has called for the renegotiation of the terms of Poland's accession to the EU, has lambasted plans to adopt the euro and urged a reduction in the independence of Poland's central bank, which Brussels would oppose.

"Polish politics is staggering downward and in the direction of populism and opportunism," said Jacek Holowka, a philosophy professor at the University of Warsaw.

"Poland has the least credible government ever, with Giertych, who is a symbol of intolerance, and Lepper sentenced to jail."