GB No. 4(23)/96
As a matter of fact this note should be titled: "Who does not advise the prime minister?" A few months after being summoned to the post, prime minister Cimoszewicz introduced the forty members of his group of advisors (The "Polityka" weekly, No.24 of 15 June 1996). Let us have a closer look at it.
We can find practically everybody here: thirteen people are representatives of business and economy; eight of social politics; six are lawyers; four deal with international affairs; two with social pathologies; two represent self-governing bodies; another two - culture; still another two represent mass media and the book market, and one person - agriculture (we should keep in mind that Mr. Cimoszewicz's government is formed, among others, by the peasants' party; does it mean that the experts of the Polish Peasants' Party are enough for him?). And what? Who is missing? Yes, you are right; there is not even one single person representing the ecological movement here.
We have two possibilities of choice: either one cannot find such people in our country, or premier Cimoszewicz accounted his knowledge in the said discipline to be good enough not to need any advisors or, which seems most probable to me, that environmental protection is not the most important problem for this government and its premier (I used a delicate expression here, didn' t I?).
One may say that, as a matter of fact, such a composition of this group of advisors does not prove anything, and the presence (or absence) of people representing one particular discipline does not necessarily have to have any impact on the decisions and actions of the prime minister. Besides, both the Premier's Office and the Ministry of Environment are full of experts. I agree. I am far from believing that the premier's advisors are chosen according to any code, as it used to happen - a bit of everything, and by way of condiment, a woman, somebody from the country, a young man, a peasant, and a worker. Absolutely not! But still, I think that the composition of this group says something about the priorities of the prime minister, about his hierarchy of interests and about his ability to notice the disciplines which demand important and correct decisions. Can anyone say that environmental protection is not such?
I like the expression used in the article published in the said edition of the "Polityka"; namely, a group of the premier's advisors were there called a "substitute activity of the premier". I think it best illustrates the real importance of this group and its members. I am sorry to say that in the future, premier Cimoszewicz may have problems with his audition.
Aleksander Fober
reprinted from Zielone Brygady, July '96