Press reviewed by Slawek Szefs.
DZIENNIK returns to the Sunday incident in Georgia in which a column of official vehicles with the presidents of Georgia and Poland were shelled with machine gun fire at a Russian checkpoint near the border with South Ossetia. The paper writes that the spontaneous escapade was to help Georgia in proving that Russian military units are still located in areas covered by the 6 point peace plan negotiated by French president Sarkozy with Moscow, but resulted in reverse effects. Lech Kaczynski has displayed almost proverbial cavalry like fantasy, but this Georgian charge on enemy positions may seriously diminish the Polish president’s reputation, especially among international partners, states the newspaper.
RZECZPOSPOLITA publishes a ranking list of the most effective government ministers in terms of legislative accomplishments. Top marks in the cabinet of PM Donald Tusk go in this respect to finance minister Jacek Rostowski. Second in line is the minister in charge of infrastructure Cezary Grabarczyk, together with justice minister Zbigniew Cwiakalski who has also been named the most hard working government member. What better team can a Prime Minister ask for?
GAZETA WYBORCZA turns the front page spotlight on what it headlines as ‘An Assassination Attempt On Lotos’, the name referring to one of Poland’s biggest fuel producers and distributors. The European UniCredit bank has just released a report in which its chief expert predicts the company’s market perspectives are less than bleak and therefore assigned it a zero percent rating in stock value. This is a more than clear sign for investors to withdraw as quickly as possible in order to save what’s left of their money. This is a world scale precedent, said deputy premier and economy minister Waldemar Pawlak, as the move could be perceived as a ruthless take-over attempt of the Polish company.
The tabloid FAKT continues its campaign to downsize the Polish parliament, claiming PM Tusk fully supports the idea. MPs cost us a fortune, it alarms. Annual remuneration of the 460 House members totals 60 million zloties while salaries of relevant administration personnel and aids a further 140 million, plus 15 million in costs of travel. All in all, some 215 million zloties, or well over 61 million euros! And what do we get in return? An abundance of quarrels and scandals, writes Fakt. If it were only my decision, the House would number 230 MPs already a long time ago, disclosed the government head in an interview for the paper.
And an item of social interest, otherwise known as gossip…
In its sports section SUPEREXPRESS has a full page pictorial reporting on Artur Boruc – the temperamental goalkeeper of Celtic Glasgow and Poland’s national team - and his new female companion. The shapely 23 year old has been formerly associated with a mobster in Poznan, a major Polish city in the mid-west. The Scottish press has caught up on the story with local headlines reading ‘Boruc girl is gangster’s ex’. But much of the sensation is cooled down when we find out that the athlete treats his relationship very seriously and plans on establishing a happy family together with his girlfriend’s little daughter.