POLAND: Poland was stumbling towards a potentially unstable coalition government last night as the country's two strongest parties rejected each other's demands for concessions.
Hopes faded that the ultra-conservative Law and Justice party would forge an alliance with the liberal reformers of Civic Platform amid bitter arguments over the allocation of cabinet posts and conflicting visions of Poland's future. Donald Tusk, leader of the pro-business Civic Platform (PO), urged his Law and Justice (PiS) counterpart, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, to withdraw his candidates for prime minister and deputy speaker of parliament.
Many Poles believe that Andrjez Lepper, the fiery populist and anti-EU campaigner, would be a liability as deputy speaker, and that Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, as prime minister, would be little more than the puppet of Mr Kaczynski.
"Donald Tusk's suggestion is unacceptable," declared Mr Kaczynski, whose identical twin brother, Lech, beat Mr Tusk to become president earlier this month.
"I announced before the elections that I would by no means be prime minister if my brother was elected president," Mr Kaczynski said. "This situation would be completely unacceptable in the eyes of society."
The Kaczynskis' support for a strong state role in the economy, lavish welfare spending and caution towards the euro places them at odds with Civic Platform, which wants radical reform of a country with 18 per cent unemployment.
