Polish Left Promises to Renew Germany, Russia Ties

Poland's opposition centre-left said on Monday it would fight a forthcoming snap election on a promise to repair relations with neighbours Germany and Russia, strained under the ruling conservatives.

The centre-left took Poland into the European Union in 2004 but scandals engulfing its ranks caused it to lose power to the conservative party of President Lech Kaczynski and his twin brother Jaroslaw, the prime minister, the following year.

Since coming to power, the nationalist Kaczynskis have taken a confrontational line in dealings with Moscow and Berlin, accusing both of colluding to damage Polish interests.

Aleksander Kwasniewski, the former leftist president who has agreed to head a Left and Democrats (LiD) alliance, vigorously criticised the conservatives' stance. "I judge the current Polish foreign policy as very bad," he told reporters.

"A key element of the LiD programme will be to change this policy, to reestablish Poland's best possible contacts with our biggest neighbours, Germany and Russia," Kwasniewski said.

Relations with Moscow have been troubled ever since Poland overthrew communism in 1989, but tensions with Berlin accelerated rapidly under the eurosceptic Kaczynskis.

The cabinet fell last week over internal conflicts, putting Poland on track for an early poll, possibly by October.

In a sign that his campaign might tap into nationalistic and anti-German sentiments among older and less educated Poles, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski accused the oppostion at the weekend of being "dependent on Germany".

Kwasniewski, an internationally respected former communist whose remake as a "third way" leftist helped him win two presidential elections, said Kaczynski's anti-German rhetoric was obsessive and harmful to Poland.

"We must show that Poland is a creative force in the EU and not a country which is afraid of the EU or just takes its money," he said. Poland is the largest recipient of EU funds among ex-communist nations which joined the bloc in 2004.

Analysts see Kwasniewski's return to the political limelight as a godsend for the centre-left because his personal popularity could boost the party's chances in the election.

Kwasniewski ruled out seeking a position of power after the election but said he wanted the centre-left to return to prominence after two years of Kaczynski rule marked by social conservatism and clashes with intellectuals and business.

"There are many who are suffocating in this permanent political turmoil in Poland. For them a centre-leftist alternative is important," he said.