Speaker of Parliament and acting president Bronislaw Komorowski, has said he wants to appoint a new National Security Council in the wake of the Smolensk disaster.

He is to hold consultations with all the main political groupings on Monday and convene the first sitting of the new body next Thursday.

According to Mr Komorowski, it should bring together the prime minister, his deputy, the ministers for foreign affairs, national defence and finances, the governor of the National Bank of Poland, the speakers of both houses of the National Assembly – the Parliament and the Senate, leaders of major political parties, as well as former presidents and prime ministers.

Mr Komorowski, who is the ruling Civic Platform’s candidate in the presidential elections, claims that there is an urgent need for a new body to discuss the procedures governing the air travel of the country’s top-ranking politicians, in the context of last month’s crash of the presidential plane in which top state and military leaders, who travelled on the same plane, were killed.

Opposition politicians, of both the conservative Law and Justice and the Democratic Left Alliance, have expressed their reservations as to Mr Komorowski’s plans, saying that as an acting president he should not take such decisions. Marek Wikiński of the Democratic Left Alliance stressed that a new National Security Council should be appointed by a new president. Grzegorz Napieralski, who is the Alliance’s presidential candidate, said, however, that he would accept an invitation to join the Council. Law and Justice is waiting for an official invitation from Mr Komorowski before taking any decision. (mk)

Thenews.pl |