Poland's parliament convenes as two opposing camps claim victory in its national elections

euronews (in English)

The Polish parliament is holding its first meeting since the country's October elections, as two opposing camps are claiming victory and aspiring to form the government.

Transcript

00:00 Poland's President Andrzej Duda tells the nation he's given Mateusz Morawiecki of his

00:06 own right-wing Law and Justice Party the mission to form the government. But there's a hung

00:11 parliament with no individual party winning a majority of seats. And as parliament met

00:16 for the first time, more liberal parties that had been in opposition before October's general

00:21 election announced they'd formed the majority coalition.

00:24 "We are ready to draft a text of a traditional motion which will be a guide for us and a

00:31 recommendation." "It concerns both entrepreneurs and workers.

00:38 It concerns education and health care. It concerns villages, agriculture and large metropolises.

00:45 It concerns women's rights, it concerns family integrity."

00:53 The coalition pledges a return to more liberal policies, protecting values such as individual

00:58 freedoms, a separation of government and church, but above all restoring the rule of law.

01:03 "We must start by rebuilding our relations with European Union institutions, understood

01:09 as a way to get to the moment of launching the EU funds, which are blocked for Poland

01:15 today. This has to do with the rules of law, with the order of law in Poland. It's known

01:22 as the European Union. We want to see changes in the law concerning the independence of

01:29 Polish judges, Polish courts." However, Razem, which is part of the coalition,

01:32 decided not to sign the agreement, although it declares its full support for the government

01:36 emerging from the opposition factions. "Unfortunately, during these negotiations,

01:41 we have not been able to obtain guarantees for financing such standard programmes for

01:48 housing, rent, health care, or for employment rights or the termination of the working week."

01:55 The Law and Justice Party will more likely not be able to form a majority in the new

02:01 parliament. However, due to the procedural reasons, Poland will have to wait a few more

02:06 weeks for the transfer of power to the more liberal coalition. Magdalena Chodownik for

02:11 Euronews from Warsaw.

02:12 [SWOOSH]

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