Prices are rising, Civic Platform is falling” writes Gazeta Wyborcza looking at new public support figures.

“Our research from last week is confirmed” announces the paper, noting the slipped ratings of the ruling party in a poll conducted a week after the anniversary of the disastrous Smolensk air crash. Six months before the elections, the Civic Party is the only political grouping in Poland to record a seesaw of ups and downs: starting the year at 54%, now to stand at 40%.  Also, adds the paper darkly, citing research by CBOS, this is the first time that there are more opponents of the government of Donald Tusk (34%) than supporters (33%).

Rzeczpospolita reports on the first open conflict between the Presidential Palace and the Foreign Ministry: over a plaque mounted on the site of the Smolensk air crash by grieving widows, which was exchanged for a different one, with different wording, two days before the visit of Polish President Bronisław Komorowski with Russia’s Dmitri Medvedev on the anniversary of the crash. The paper writes of open criticism fielded at the Foreign Ministry: “diplomats failed to inform the Palace about the threatening scandal”. The FM reiterates that everything, including Russian objections, had been in the materials sent to the Presidential Palace before the visit, notes the paper, adding also that Minister Sikorski responded to criticism from opposition Law and Justice on Twitter, writing that their concept of foreign policy was to impose on Russia the qualification of the Katyń crime as genocide -with the help of a drill. 

Dziennik Gazeta Prawna reports that the Polish internet community has coined a new term: “Jarosław’s basket” after the Law and Justice leader staged a shopping expedition, mainly to prove how much more one has to pay for necessities under Civic Platform rule. Jarosław Kaczyński spent over 50 zloty (about 12.5 euros or some 19 USD) on some potatoes, sugar, flour, bread and a chicken. Now, writes the paper, the web is teeming with comparisons what one can buy around the world for the equivalent: for instance in California the money was barely enough for 24 half-litre bottles of water, a packet of margarine and four packets of crisps, but in Spain this was a French loaf, two packets of pasta, cheese, hot dogs, minced meat, spinach and a 12-pack of beer. Shoppers sent in their “baskets” from Paris, Wales, Cyprus, Zimbabwe and Ukraine, among others. The money bought the biggest “basket” in the Czech Republic, writes Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

In Easter week, Życie Warszawy the Warsaw city daily notes that more and more people are hiring professional restaurant chefs to do their holiday cooking for them. Rather than spend hours slaving a hot stove preparing for the traditional big lunch on Sunday, hosts nowadays prefer to pay for catering. After a look at holiday menus to go, the paper lists some of the delicacies: eggs stuffed with crayfish mousse, chicken roulade with pistachios, as well as the traditional Polish sour soup and mazurek cakes. And Życie Warszawy adds that another new tradition is to invite your guests to a restaurant for an Easter Sunday buffet – in some places it’s even not necessary to book. (ek)