Change of guard in Poland

Leszek Miller's Democratic Left won a landslide

By Ray Furlong

The new Polish Prime Minister, Leszek Miller, has been sworn into office by President Alexander Kwasniewski in a ceremony in Warsaw.

The appointment sees a changing of the guard in Polish politics.

Both the president and the new prime minister are former high-ranking communist officials who have re-defined themselves as social democrats since the transition to democracy.

The new government replaces a coalition led by Solidarity - the party which helped overthrow the communist regime in 1989.

'Tough challenges'

Mr Miller's Democratic Left party won an unprecedented landslide victory in last month's elections.

Alexander Kwasniewski: new government faces tough times

He has now formed a coalition government with the Peasants Party which will face a confidence vote in parliament next week.

That is expected to be a formality as they have a comfortable majority. But after that it may get harder.

Opening the new parliament earlier in the day, President Kwasniewski said the new government "faced the toughest challenges since the beginning of economic reforms 11 years ago."

The government will have to push through a potentially unpopular package of tax increases and spending cuts to combat a growing budget crisis.

The new cabinet will hold its first meeting on Saturday.