More arrests in Polish football, Jadwiga Kaczynska about her two sons: the president and opposition leader and the FAKT tabloid is five years old.
Michał Kubicki reviews the press
Another episode, to put it mildly, in the on-going fight against corruption in Polish football is a headline story in most papers. GAZETA WYBORCZA writes that the arrest of former national team manager and former MP Janusz Wojcik has brought the number of officials, coaches and referees arrested in recent months to 161! In RZECZPOSPOLITA, sports minister Drzewiecki talks about government’s determination to cleanse Polish football. Former national cap and now a parliamentary deputy of the ruling Civic Platform, Roman Kosecki, told the same daily that to hail Wojcik’s arrest a sensation does not make much sense. DZIENNIK stresses that the arrest came a week before elections of a new leadership of the Polish Football Federation. It is likely to pave the way to the post of Federation boss to Zbigniew Boniek, one of the best strikers in the golden days of Polish football. He is said to be the sports minister’s favourite.
The FAKT tabloid proudly announces on its front page that it is five years old today. One of the birthday tributes comes from Edward Lucas of The Economist, in whose view Polish tabloids are better than their English counterparts. ‘How about launching an English-language edition of FAKT?, suggests Edward Lucas. My compatriots will be able to see that popular journalism can entertain and educate, be critical and biting, at the same time commanding respect.
The other tabloid SUPER EXPRESS has a scoop: a two-page interview with Jadwiga Kaczyńska, the mother of president Lech Kaczynski and opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski. She told the daily that Lech treats the presidency as a mission and is absolutely confident that certain things have to accomplished for Poland. Asked about how he’s changed since becoming president three years ago, she said: he gives more consideration to his appearance. Both he and his brother never cared about clothes and things like that. And as for Jaroslaw, he got so much involved in opposition activities in the 1970s, that he didn’t have time to get married. That’s why I hold a grudge against the Workers Defence Committee, 81 year-old Jadwiga Kaczynska told SUPER EXPRESS jokingly.
To end on a more serious note, DZIENNIK predicts that president Kaczynski will not yield to pressure from the French president and will not put his signature under the Lisbon Treaty for the time being. His close aide told the paper that the president’s stand is a mark of respect for the Irish. The Polish president wants to see how the Irish themselves resolve the problem.