Polish president warned over ultra-right shift

Poland was given a blunt warning over its human rights obligations yesterday - after the election of a president who has sought to curb gay rights and campaigned for the restoration of the death penalty.

The clear victory for Lech Kaczynski, who won 54 per cent of the vote in Sunday's run-off, marks a sharp change for Poland as a majority of voters embraced the populist politics of a man who has promised to bring about moral renewal.

Mr Kaczynski, whose twin brother will also be a key figure in the new government, has caused alarm by raising the issue of reparations for Germany's wartime destruction of Warsaw.

The European Commission described capital punishment as contrary to the EU's basic values yesterday.

An article of the EU's governing treaty states that countries that fail to observe fundamental rights can, ultimately, be stripped of their European voting rights.

Politicians have been alarmed by the statements of the president-elect, and are hoping he and his party will be reined in when in office.

Martin Schultz, leader of the socialist group in the European Parliament, said Mr Kaczynski is "on probation", adding: "I hope the president will be a different kind of person to the [one we saw as] candidate."Chris Davies, leader of the British Liberal Democrat MEPs, said: "People are alert.

I hope the Polish president will not seek to challenge some of the basic principles and values of the EU."The final round of the Polish presidential election was fought between two right-wing parties, both of which were born out of the Solidarnosc union movement that ousted the Communist government in the 1980s.

As in parliamentary elections two weeks earlier, Mr Kaczynski's Law And Justice party campaign overtook that of the rival Civic Platform.

Mr Kaczynski's strong moral tone courted the religious right and the traditionalist elements of Poland's powerful Roman Catholic Church.

During the campaign, he called for the return of capital punishment for the worst murders and, as mayor of Warsaw, he sought to ban a gay rights march on security grounds.

Germany has been concerned about the nationalist tone of his rhetoric.

The Law And Justice party's website carries an interview with the president-elect in which he argues Poland has "moral grounds to demand compensation" for wartime destruction by the Nazis.

He adds: "Polish-German reconciliation is important but it has made some forget what has really happened.

Poland's foreign policy did not take advantage of the fact that Germany and Western Europe as a whole have an unclear conscience toward Poland." Meanwhile, the result is seen as a setback for economic liberalism and caused the zloty to dip temporarily.

The pro-business Civil Platform and its presidential candidate Donald Tusk had backed a flat tax and deregulation.

By contrast, Law And Justice called for a greater state role in tackling poverty, corruption and unemployment, protection of the welfare state, and made generous campaign promises to farmers and heavy industry workers.

Because of the result of parliamentary elections, the two centre-right parties must form a coalition government.

That is likely to mean a compromise on economic reform, one that will exclude a flat tax but mean some reduction in taxation.

A spokesman for the European Commission said: "One of the conditions for starting negotiations with a potential candidate country is that the existing death penalty must be abolished.

This is considered not to be in line with the basic values, on which the EU is based." Discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation contravenes a commitment to respect minorities, the rule of law and human rights, he added.

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