GOVERNMENT ACTS QUICKLY TO AVERT POTENTIAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L WARSAW 001334

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/CE AND DRL/IL
LABOR FOR ILAB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/19/2018
TAGS: PGOV ELAB ECON PL
SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT ACTS QUICKLY TO AVERT POTENTIAL
COALITION CRISIS

Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR DANIEL SAINZ FOR REASONS
1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (SBU) Poland's two coalition parties -- Civic Platform
(PO) and the Polish People's Party (PSL) -- acted quickly to
resolve what Prime Minister Tusk characterized as a
"misunderstanding" between himself and Labor Minister Jolanta
Fedak (PSL). Controversy erupted November 17 when Fedak
unexpectedly announced her intent to submit legislation to
the Sejm (lower house of parliament) that would leave
teachers' early retirement benefits in place for 25 years.


2. (SBU) Fedak's announcement was strongly critized by Tusk's
chief political advisor, Michal Boni, who argued that the
proposal would undermine legislation, which passed the Sejm
November 7, to reduce the number of workers eligible for
early retirement by around 75 percent, from 1 million to
approximately 270,000. Occupational groups most affected by
the legislation are teachers, journalists, and some railway
workers. The legislation is expected to pass the
PO-dominated Senate by a wide margin. The current law
allowing early retirement will sunset in January 2009,
leaving President Kaczynski with a difficult choice between
signing the legislation -- which would be seen as a sign of
betrayal by key Law and Justice (PiS) constituents -- or
vetoing the legislation -- which carries the risk of being
blamed if the law sunsets altogether and all early retirement
benefits lapse.


3. (SBU) Although Fedak's proposal risked undoing what many
considered PO's first strategic victory over PiS, Prime
Minister Tusk, traveling in Qatar, reacted calmly,
speculating that there must have been a misunderstanding
between himself and Fedak. PO Caucus Zbigniew Chlebowski and
PSL Caucus Chair Stanislaw Zelichowski met on the afternoon
of November 18 with Fedak and Education Minister Katarzyna
Hall. Following the meeting, Chlebowski and Zelichowski
announced plans to prepare a new draft that would offer
"pre-retirement" benefits to teachers who are two-to-three
years away from regular retirement (at age 60 for women, 65
for men).


4. (C) COMMENT: The fact that a Polish coalition government
was able to react quickly -- and identify compromises -- to
avert a potential crisis is being viewed as something of a
novelty by Polish media. Whether Fedak's actions are truly
the result of a misunderstanding or part of a PSL strategy to
chip away at a key PiS constituency, the fact that PO
leadership was willing to compromise indicates that PSL is
viewed as a serious coalition partner. It also highlights
PSL's increasingly important role in legitimizing PO's reform
agenda outside of PO's free market-oriented constituency.
ASHE