Poland was wrestling today with a problem that has not confronted a society since the end of the Second World War: how to keep a state functioning when a large segment of the governing class has been killed at a stroke.
Moving slowly, still under shock, Poles returned to work after the weekend air crash that killed not only President Lech Kaczynski, but also dozens of top officials, ministers, the heads of the Armed Forces and the governor of the central bank, Slawomir Skrzypek.
While ordinary Poles went to their offices mainly to share their grief, the Government had to move more quickly.
The first priority was to reassure the markets that Poland was not going to abandon policies that have seen it weather the recession well, keeping the zloty, the Polish currency, strong and stable.
Acting President Bronislaw Komorowski said that his first move would be to nominate a replacement for Mr Skrzypek.
“It is absolutely necessary for this problem to be resolved quickly,” he told the news channel TVN 24. “Quick decisions are needed because only the governor can convene the Monetary Policy Council meeting.”
The decision is at the heart of the governing crisis that has descended on Poland since the death of the President. The head of state occupies a largely symbolic role — but he nominates many leaders of state institutions, including the central bank governor, and is influential in military appointments and the shaping of foreign policy. So if a president dies alongside institutional heads how do you start replacing them? How do you run the country?
Mr Komorowski, as Speaker of Parliament, has taken over as acting President until elections in June. He will then be a candidate for head of state. Technically, he has all the powers that President Kaczynski had, but Poles are asking whether he can legitimately make appointments now. It could smack of electioneering and of party politics.
The choice, however, is to leave Poland in a kind of political limbo for the next two months. There is the problem, for example, of how to replace the head of the national archives, Janusz Kurtyka. His archives were central to President Kaczynski’s attempts to connect Poles with their history and to create a sense of nationhood and patriotism; it is one of the most politically sensitive of roles. Should the post stay open?
Queues stretched around Warsaw this morning for emergency editions of newspapers but also to sign the condolence books. The longest line was in front of the presidential palace, but there were lines too outside army headquarters and at the National Bank of Poland, where a condolence book for Mr Skrzypek had been placed at the entrance, where bullion trucks used to collect and deliver foreign currency.
In Russia flags flew at half mast and entertainment programmes were banned for a day of mourning. Russian authorities are assisting more than 130 Polish relatives who have already arrived in Moscow to identify bodies held in a morgue, some of them disfigured beyond recognition.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told a Cabinet meeting that Russia was “suffering and grieving together with the Poles”.
“Grief Without Borders,” headlined the pro-government Izvestia newspaper. The opposition Novaya Gazeta newspaper used a Polish phrase in its headline. “Jestesmy Z Wami!” (“We Are With You!”).
Many of Poland’s political decisions, including the replacement of the parliamentary deputies who died in the plane, will be put on hold until after the state funeral of President Kaczynski on Saturday. A memorial service for the other victims of the crash will also be held that day.
What is left of the presidential protocol department is already working out which foreign leaders will come. It is assumed that both Russian President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin will attend, even though Jaroslaw, President Kaczynski’s twin brother, has made clear his hostility to Mr Putin.
From Tuesday President Kaczynski will lie in state. By that time the body of his wife, Maria, should also have been repatriated.
Ordinary Poles are watching closely the investigations into the crash, carried out by both Russian and Polish prosecutors. The Russians have, with remarkable speed, ruled out the possibility of mechanical failure in the presidential Tupolev 154. That leaves open the possibility of pilot error or bad advice from the tower of Smolensk airport.
The chief of the tower, Pavel Plusin, has already made clear that he believed the pilot to be at fault. The Polish pilot, he said, rejected his warnings about visibility on the landing strip, saying: “We have enough fuel to make another circuit [and landing attempt] and then make for an alternative airport if that doesn’t work.”
The tower had proposed re-routing to Minsk or Moscow. Mr Plusin said that the pilot should have given altitude readings before coming in to land but failed to do so. He also said that the pilot did not understand Russian numbers when read out from the tower. The Polish authorities have denied this.
So far, there is an unusually positive Polish assessment of Russian behaviour. Its day of mourning on Monday and its broadcasting on television of Andrzej Wajda’s film Katyn on Sunday night have been well received. But the mood of the crowd outside the presidential palace could yet shift against the Russians. Grief could well turn to anger if the investigations looks to be concealing vital facts.
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