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Big changes also in Poland. For the first time since the end of Communism in 1989, the country's now being ruled by a single party as opposed to a coalition. But the success of the populist National Law and Justice Party in the recent election worries some people. The defeated Prime Minister, Ewa Kopacz, says the new administration could undermine civil liberties and threaten democracy. Economists also ask if Poland which seems to have done well out of joining the European Union is now turning its back on the outside world. Alex Duval Smith in Warsaw reckons her local fruit and veg lady might have the answer.
The conversation starts over apples-which variety to choose. "Champion, Cortland, Lobo and Celeste," she says," all Polish." Her obvious pride in their provenance makes me realise I have to buy some. Indeed that I shall never again leave this shop without a bag of Polish apples. That's how I get chatting to Pani Janinna as astute observer of Poland as any political analysts.
They, the analysts, are hard at work. They're trying to explain why the Poles turn their back so decisively on the Civic Platform government. In eight years, with millions of Euros from the European Union, the Liberal Coalition modernised Poland. It built roads and airport terminals and bought new trains. The investors came in great numbers; banks, superstores, assembly plants. Poland is now the sixth largest economy in the EU. Unemployment has dropped below 10%. | 
发表于 2016-12-15 22:36:46