Has the government done all it could to save the life of Polish citizen and will the economic crisis ease political in-fighting?
Press reviewed by Michal Kubicki
The aftermath of the killing of the Polish hostage in Pakistan continues to take up a good deal of news and editorial space. DZIENNIK quotes Prime Minister Donald Tusk on its frontpage: ‘We have done all we could.’ According to the daily, Mr. Tusk became furious after hearing the justice minister as saying that the Polish intelligence knew the identity of the kidnappers and, as he put it, ‘their friends in the Pakistani government.’
In an editorial DZIENNIK claims that Polish citizens have the right to know all of the details of what went wrong in order to avoid a similar tragedy in the future. The paper goes on to say that Polish special services had every right to station themselves in the region where it was thought that the Taliban kept the Pole, adding that it was necessary to work more closely with Pakistani intelligence. But, writes DZIENNIK, none of this happened and the prime minister, the Foreign Minister and the head of security services are responsible for the lack of firm action. It seems that Poland has seen the first consequences of taking part in a war on terrorism, DZIENNIK says, concluding that there are many unanswered questions.
The daily POLSKA claims that the next few days are likely to be the most difficult ones in the career of Foreign Minister Sikorski. There is no doubt that after his address to Parliament on Friday he will have to respond to some tough questions from the opposition concerning the actions undertaken by the Polish government since the Pole had been kidnapped four months ago. A prominent political analyst Janusz Danecki has told RZECZPOSPOLITA that at a time when Poland is seen as a side in the conflict between the West and the Moslem world, Warsaw should strive for better relations with the Islamic world. In this context, POLSKA writes that the remarks by the justice minister and the decision of the Senate Speaker to cancel a visit by Pakistani senators to Warsaw are detrimental to Polish interests.
On Poland’s domestic scene, DZIENNIK has an interview with the head of the Presidential Chancellery, Piotr Kownacki. In his view, the economic crisis should bring the government and the main opposition party Law and Justice closer together. ‘The situation is serious. Paradoxically enough, the world crisis has opened up fresh opportunities for Poland and if there is enough courage to introduce bold, unconventional solutions, the country can come out of the current difficulties in a better shape.
Under the headline ‘Economic nationalism enters Poland’, RZECZPOSPOLITA writes that three in every four Poles think that the government should help only those banks that are owned by the Polish capital. Looking at the problem from a broader perspective, the daily claims that economic nationalism is a more serious threat than the crisis itself.