Witold M. Orłowski: Waiting for the weather to change

What has stopped and is not moving? At the moment of writing (Wednesday morning), for example, the flight of Dr. Uznański-Wiśniewski, whose launch into space is still being delayed by unfavorable weather. It would seem - there is space, from the perspective of which the heroic struggles of Polish politicians for the soul of the nation seem rather small and insignificant, here our mundane matters. What does one have to do with the other? It must have something, since the wife of a Polish cosmonaut has to return to the country, without waiting for the launch of her husband's rocket, in order to take part in the vote of confidence in the government.

Of course, there are things that are important – and there are more important things. The cosmos pales in comparison to the fight between coach Probierz and Robert Lewandowski for the leadership of the national team. As reported by the press, most of the team supported the coach. Until now, they supported him in a hidden way, reluctantly passing the ball to the Barcelona star, now there has been an open rebellion. And so the battle for the soul of Polish football, which has excited the entire nation, continues. And only the bad weather has caused the team to drop out of all tournaments for years, and Polish fans crazy with joy can only be seen on beer commercials.

Space and football, the two most important things. What more could be written about, commenting on our toddling around in place and waiting for the weather to improve?

Well, for example, about the economy. If the government is wondering why the mood won't improve and people vote in the presidential elections the way they do, let it look at its own activity (or lack thereof) in the field of economic policy. It has been in power for a year and a half, until now explaining the lack of serious action by the president's probable obstruction and telling everyone to wait for the weather to change. And now we have a change, as a result of which the struggle between the president and the government will probably only intensify. Can anything be done at all?

Yes, it can be done, just as much more could have been done in the past year and a half. First of all, it can and should be shown that despite difficult conditions, the government has some real plan of action, a development strategy that will appeal to people's imagination (at least those who are interested in it). And I am not talking about fairy tales like Mateusz Morawiecki's, about bombastic projects of building gigantic super airports, flying super trains and super canals dug along and across Poland from the 19th century. The world is changing at a rapid pace, on the one hand, the development of technology is leading to real miracles, on the other, the fight for a place on the global market is getting more intense. The government's task is to show how the Polish economy should join this race. What should be done to make our entrepreneurs more aggressive and expansive, to make our start-ups astonish the world with ideas, to make our financial market more willing to finance innovative risks, our public finances safe, and our state institutions efficient and friendly to development. This will not be resolved by occasional tweets about how the economy has taken off, nor by one-time media outbursts in the form of President Brzoska's deregulation team. What is really needed here is a strategic plan of action, in many areas at once - and without the reservation that we will do something, but only if the new president graciously allows us.

It's now Thursday, I hope that Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski has either already started or will start soon. And the government will really start acting energetically, and not wait for the weather to improve.