POLAND: Poland's controversial new prime minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has faced down critics in western Europe, saying that he accepts the rights and responsibilities of EU membership but will defend Poland's right to be "different" on social affairs.
Mr Kaczynski used his first policy speech in parliament ahead of a confidence vote yesterday to outline his priorities in office: increasing Poland's "energy and external security", continuing the fight against corruption and guarding Poland's moral values.
His decision to follow into power his twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski, prompted concerns elsewhere in the EU of an increasingly nationalist and unpredictable foreign policy and a growing intolerance towards homosexuals.
"We want to be part of the EU, but we have to retain our autonomy on cultural and moral matters. We are different and we shouldn't hide this," Mr Kaczynski said. "We will accept standards of women's equality, but are opposed on other matters."
Observers believe "other matters" include his government's position on homosexuality. Officially, the government says homosexuality is a private matter, yet ministers rarely miss an opportunity to call homosexuals "perverts" and "paedophiles" in public.
Mr Kaczynski takes charge of a three-way coalition of his Law and Justice (PiS) party and two populist parties at a time of strained relations with Berlin, Moscow and Brussels.
Poland was capable of pursuing a "rational foreign policy" and would help "find solutions to current EU problems", he said, without mentioning explicitly the draft constitution he opposes.
Mr Kaczynski said that the EU needed to be "more practical and less formal" in its approach to governing and that Warsaw was still anxious to see Ukraine join the body.
He hoped for improved relations with Russia in the future. These ties have been strained in recent months by plans for a new undersea gas pipeline to Germany which will bypass Poland.
Poland's strategic alliance with the US would continue to be a priority and Poland was "not a nation of deserters", he said. This suggests that Polish troops in Iraq will stay put despite announcements in the past that they would be brought home.
The new prime minister, the fourth in little more than two years, surprised listeners by suggesting that Poland "shouldn't localise its foreign policy" and would pursue new cultural and economic ties with east Asia and South America.
Donald Tusk, leader of the opposition Civic Platform (PO), said: "I find it an extravagance that the prime minister will be personally involved in building contacts with Africa, yet spent only 60 seconds (of his speech) on the EU." He attacked Mr Kaczynski for not presenting measures to attract home millions of Poles who have emigrated in search of work.
Critics like Mr Tusk say the Kaczynski brothers are less interested in daily politics, reforms and foreign relations than in settling old scores with political enemies and historical aggressors.