President Kwasniewski of Poland

World news from The Times and the Sunday Times - Times Online :: If they want a politician, we can discuss it. If they want a diplomat, I'm not the right man By Bronwen Maddox
: "“I AM ready,” said President Kwasniewski of Poland when asked whether he would like to succeed Kofi Annan next year as Secretary-General of the United Nations.
“I am a straight man, an honest man,” he told The Times yesterday. “If they (the United Nations) want deep reforms, if they want more a politician than a diplomat, then we can discuss it.” But if they want a diplomat, “I’m not the right man — there are better diplomats than I.”



This is as open a pitch as politicians — or diplomats — ever make for a job. But Mr Kwasniewski, who is stepping down in December after ten years as Poland’s President, is the first to say that talk at the moment is “not serious”. He appears to be the favoured candidate of the Bush Administration. But Russia, in antagonistic mood towards Poland, would loathe the idea and China wants someone from Asia.

Yet the speculation about what he will do next is appropriate. Mr Kwasniewski, 50, a former Communist, has presided over the transformation of Poland from struggling former Soviet state into one of the strongest voices of the European Union.

On this “farewell trip” to London, his chat with Tony Blair on Tuesday was “as good as ever” and “a chance to say to Tony that we are very grateful for membership in the EU and Nato”, causes that Britain has championed. He said that the 130,000 Polish workers in Britain — some put the figure much higher — is not a drain on Poland but helpful, given unemployment at home. He and Mr Blair became new boys at the helm of their countries at almost the same time, and he said that he shares Mr Blair’s wish that he had tried to do even more. No doubt. He is stepping down as Poland enters a period of huge unpredictability. Today parliament will hold a vote of confidence in the new minority Government, led by the conservative Law and Justice party, after its failure to form a coalition with liberals.

Mr Kwasniewski managed to say that he hoped the Government would win, for the sake of stability. But it goes against the grain, given his fear that it will try to turn the clock back.

Last week the new Finance Minister attacked Tesco for building so many super- markets, while the Government has scrapped the post of Women’s Minister in a concession to Roman Catholic conservatives. “I am sure Polish democracy is strong enough to protect (itself) against irresponsible experiments”, he said.

The Law and Justice party narrowly won the parliamentary elections in September. Its candidate, Lech Kaczynski, who won last month’s presidential election, takes over from Mr Kwasniewksi next month.

Mr Kwasniewski argues that this defeat of the Left was a judgment “of style, not substance”. People were angry about allegations of corruption, he argues, not about policies.

Mr Kwasniewski’s objection to the promises of the new Government — such as paying parents for each child — is that “we have not the money”.

He hoped that the new Prime Minister, Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, “is a pragmatic man, who will find the balance between the huge expectations and what is possible.”

Pragmatism has been in short supply. Mr Kwasniewski said that “the main problem of Polish politics is history — who was where 20 years ago (in Poland’s struggle for independence)”. There is a tendency for all leaders to be heroes, he said, “that is not enough. It is important to have pragmatism too.”

He reckons that it will take a generation to change. In the meantime, he hopes that EU membership will impose maturity and modernity.

But he has clearly been dismayed, as are many in former Soviet countries, at the disarray within the EU since France and the Netherlands rejected the constitution this summer.

He held only dwindling hopes that Britain would secure a deal on the budget in the last weeks of its presidency, saying that France and Britain were equally to blame for scuppering a deal. “It is a typical mid-life crisis”, he says of the older members’ “tiredness” with the European project. “In Poland, after one year (of membership), we are still in love.”"