Of the 100 pledges Donald Tusk promised to enact in his first 100 days as prime minister of Poland, 88—almost 90%—have not come to fruition.
Tusk said in no uncertain terms in December last year:
The whole of Poland knows these proposals. Poland will hold us to account for this. I am not afraid of that. On behalf of the entire future government, I can tell you, we are not afraid of any of these promises. They will be fulfilled.
On Friday, March 22nd, which marks the 100th day of this administration, Poland may hold Tusk to account for having succeeded with just 12 of his pledges, according to news site Wirtualna Polska. Another tracker puts the total at just eight, with a further four still in progress.
It was, of course, always clear that not all of these pledges would become reality in Tusk’s centrist-liberal Civic Coalition’s first 100 days in office. Not least because, as Tusk has himself made clear, albeit rather subtly, the groups making up this coalition all have “their own ideas and ambitions.” But a failure on this scale should embarrass even Tusk’s biggest supporters, however much they try to pin the blame on the “backlogs and disastrous projects” of the previous administration.
Polish conservatives will undoubtedly celebrate Tusk’s failure, not simply on a party-political level but because of the content of the pledges. The prime minister has, for example, failed to radically overhaul the national education curriculum, despite his intentions. The European Conservative previously reported that the move, had it been successful, would have “effectively do[ne] away with entire chapters of Polish history.” There is, of course, still time for a major rewriting.
While the government has abolished homework in primary schools, established a Ministry of Industry in Silesia, and obtained some funds from Brussels that had been frozen over rule-of-law concerns, the Left is still frustrated that abortion laws have yet to be liberalised. The Guardian described this as “a crucial test of the country’s new government,” and one campaigner said it would be “disgraceful and a disrespect towards a huge number of women” if abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy was not soon made legal.
Here too, conservatives might be grateful that Tusk’s coalition has as yet been unable to make many serious steps forward. But they will be keeping a close eye on what measures come into place over his next 100 days in office.
