POLAND: Polish prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has made an embarrassing U-turn to save his struggling government, by restoring to the cabinet a populist leader whom he sacked and denounced as a "rabble-rouser" just last month.
In a Monday night ceremony that was closed to the media, the prime minister's twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski, reappointed Andrzej Lepper as agriculture minister and deputy prime minister.
Polish media called the move a victory for Mr Lepper and his Eurosceptic Self Defence party, and a humiliation for the Kaczynskis, who came to power last year promising a "moral revolution" that would clean up politics.
Mr Lepper's return to office assured the government of Self Defence's support in parliament yesterday, when deputies voted against dissolving the assembly and holding fresh elections.
Analysts said the Kaczynskis' Law and Justice Party resolved to make peace with Self Defence after surveys showed most Poles were sick of constant coalition squabbling and would elect the opposition Civic Platform party if a new ballot were held.
However the Law and Justice Party insisted that it was not embarrassed by its quick remarriage to Self Defence and the pugnaciousMr Lepper.
"We choose the reform of the state, even at the expense of our image," said senior Law and Justice member Marek Kuchcinski.
"It's worth paying a high price to finish what we started 10 months ago, rather than destroying the changes this government has begun to implement and that need more time to take effect."
Civic Platform leader Donald Tusk reminded the prime minister that he had vowed a fortnight ago "never again to negotiate with people of ill-repute" and accused him of "forming a coalition that will bring shame on you and Poland for years to come".
Leading centre-left MP Jerzy Szmajdzinski added: "This is a coalition of shame and fear - shameful before the voters and fearful of elections."
Most of Poland's media were equally damning.
"Once again, Jaroslaw Kaczynski has included Andrzej Lepper in his government, even if he despises him," wrote the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper.
"He took him back to hold on to power for a little longer, but this is an unhealthy power that he has, without an agenda and without dignity."
Jadwiga Staniszkis of Warsaw University said the reheated coalition was hopeless.
"This has been a wasted year that brought nothing good for Poland," she wrote. "The best solution now would be early elections."