Infrastructure minister is 'exceptional loser' says opposition

Passengers in Poznan, western Poland, confronted weith widespread cancellations; photo - PAP/Marfek Zakrzewski

At a press conference given in Warsaw, Wednesday, party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski called Grabarczyk “an exceptional loser” following what he claimed was the mismanagement of both the dispute with railway workers and the highway building programme ahead of the Euro 2012 football championships, which will be co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine.

“Poland has a chance to make a turning point in its road infrastructure which was not been taken advantage of,” Kaczynski said.

Hosting Euro 2012 was an opportunity to improve Poland's notoriously poor road network which contains few highways.

But problems have dogged the plans with a Chinese consortium pulling out of building the vital A2 motorway this summer.

Law and Justice is accusing Minister Cezary Grabarczyk of a lack of vision in the development of road infrastructure and negligence towards rail, air and sea transport.

The Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) supports the Law and Justice motion.

“If Grabarczyk was an honorable minister he would have quitted long time ago,” says SLD leader Grzegorz Napieralski.

“Nobody has made such a mess during the 20 years [since the fall of communism] and I’m not talking only about railways,” he told Polish Radio.

This will be the third no confidence motion directed against Cezary Grabarczyk by the opposition since Civic Platform came to power in 2007. (pg/ab/mjz)