Word: communists
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...waiting in the Chancellery when Tusk arrives. "I am not crazy about this job," he sighs, plunking down in an armchair and unbuttoning his jacket. That's understandable. Nineteen years after his country broke free from the Soviet bloc, it is still ridding itself of the effects of communist rule. Employment levels are among the worst in Europe. Roads, telecommunications and sewage lines are in terrible shape. As for Polish political life, Tusk admits, it can only be described as "weird...
...some ways, Poles, including Tusk himself, have never had it so good. Leszek Balcerowicz, a former Finance Minister and the chief architect of Poland's post-communist reforms, says the country is living through "its best period in 300 years." The economy is growing, and the country's alliances with Europe and the U.S. are strong. Not since 1989, according to one recent survey, have the Polish people felt so optimistic about the direction their country is taking...
...mark a new consolidation of Polish democracy. Where once 20 political parties vied for space in the Sejm (the Polish parliament), now a manageable four hold the floor. For the first time since the end of communism, voters reaffirmed the ascendancy of Poland's economic conservatives. The post-communist left has now failed to win in two successive votes. Yet Tusk, 50, is keenly aware of the challenges ahead. His party has no experience in power, and he has been criticized by the opposition for being a "media star" without substance. "If the aim of government is not to disturb...
...lengthy interview, Tusk says his government's ambition is great: to complete the transformation to a free-market system begun almost two decades ago. The disastrous legacies of 45 years of communist rule - from a bloated bureaucracy to punishing unemployment - have yet to be cleared away, he says, and Poland cannot afford to waste more time. "We have no oil and gas," he says. "We don't have high tech. Our centers of development, are far, far behind others. We will never be an extraordinary tourist attraction. Poland is quite a mediocre country in some regards. The only natural resource...
What surprises you in Poland when you travel around? What is depressing is the terrible impact of the communist system on the people, on the social order, and ... on Polish towns. Quality of life is not only about what you find in the shops; it's about the landscape...