Friday, April 17, 2009

Constitutional Crisis?


I have been very lazy in my upkeep of this blog. Sorry!!! I looked at the date of my last entry and was shocked to see that it was November 08. A lot has undoubtedly happened since then and i am not going to even try and fill you in on the details. Surfice to say that spring is on its way and my mind is awakening from its slumber.




Politically speaking, Poland has had an interesting couple of weeks. The most notable thing being the squable over the Nato summit between the Prime Minister and President. The President apparently ignored the PM's official advice on Poland's stance in relation to the appointment of a new Secretary General for Nato. The ins and out are perhaps not important. More that the most recent episode is just another in a long line of debacles that the two are having. The main problem lies in the over lap of juristiction that the Polish constitution allows for. Strictly speaking the President has tyhe right to initiate and nogotiate foriegn policy. However, any sensible person could see that this must be done in close conjunction with domestic policy as the two are inseperable. The fact that the PM and President can;t work together is perhaps more indicative of them rather than the consitutution. However, that said the constitution allows for this situation to happen and so perhaps does need to be changed.




In my mind, i would serverly curtail the powers and responsibilities of the President as to have two oppposing heads of the country is just asking for trouble. I understand that the constitution was written in such a way as to create a system of checks and balances, however the PM is unswerable to Parliment, whereas at present the President is not answerable to anyone.