POLISH PRESIDENT Bronislaw Komorowski has urged cross-party unity to agree economic and education reforms during his inauguration in Warsaw yesterday.
In a ceremony overshadowed by the air crash in Smolensk in which his predecessor, Lech Kaczynski, died, Mr Komorowski reached out in his inaugural address to supporters of rival Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who failed in his attempt to succeed his late twin.
“Poland needs co-operation between the most important institutions of the state, [and] as president I declare my willingness for such co-operation,” said Mr Komorowski (58), in a nod to years of reform stalemate in the past when rival political camps controlled parliament and the presidency.
“Smolensk was our common tragedy and our common mourning,” he told the national assembly, a joint meeting of both houses of parliament. “It also showed us all that our society, constitution and democracy can rise to such a situation. Poland managed to maintain the continuity of power and to honour the memory of the victims with dignity.”
Listening to his address were prime minister and political ally Donald Tusk, head of the Civic Platform, and two former democratically elected predecessors, Lech Walesa and Aleksander Kwasniewski.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski was absent from the ceremony, which began with the observation of a minute’s silence in memory of the 95 victims, including MPs whose empty seats were marked with a flower and a photograph.
Asked why Mr Kaczynski was absent, a political ally later told reporters he “clearly had other things to do”.
After years of instability driven by the political turf war between president and parliament, Mr Komorowski assured foreign ambassadors that Poland wanted to belong to the “circle of European players”. Poland’s relationship with the EU, particularly with France and Germany, were of “key importance”, he said, and their capitals would be his first destinations as president.
Even before his election last month, Mr Komorowski, who stepped in as acting head of state after the April crash, has promised to be a constructive force in office.
An ally of Mr Tusk, the moustachioed father of five, a social conservative and devout Catholic, comes from an old Polish aristocratic family.
The late Mr Kaczynski was fond of using the presidential veto to block the political ambitions of Mr Tusk’s government.
Mr Komorowski’s inauguration increases pressure on Mr Tusk to perform and, observers say, removes any excuse for political procrastination ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections.
