Poland Names Young Farmer to Prime Minister Post, Passes Budget
A 33-year-old farmer became Poland’s prime minister Friday and promised a Cabinet committed to resuming the country’s stalled political and economic reforms.
Waldemar Pawlak, leader of the Polish Peasants Party, was voted in by Parliament, 261 to 149, just hours after President Lech Walesa submitted Pawlak’s nomination.
Parliament late Friday had fired Prime Minister Jan Olszewski. The stormy five-month tenure of Olszewski’s center-right government ended in a furor over the release of names of public figures suspected of being Communist collaborators.
Pawlak must now build a Parliament coalition to break the legislative impasse that has stalled the writing of a new constitution and formulation of an economic program to move Poland toward a full market economy.
The paralysis has scared off foreign investors. But, as a first step toward winning back that investment, the Polish Parliament on Friday overwhelmingly passed a tough budget, boosting its tarnished image in Western financial circles.
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