Dear Sirs

The sixth term of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland is coming to an end. When I became an MP again in 2007, I did not expect that I would have to work in such dramatic circumstances. The ending term of the Sejm was exceptionally difficult both for Poland and for us. The biggest catastrophe in the contemporary history of our country took place in which the official delegation of the Republic of Poland led by the late President Lech Kaczynski, who was on his way to the Katyn ceremony, was killed.

The MPs of the Podkarpacie region - Grażyna Gęsicka, Stanisław Zając, Leszek Deptuła and the generals of the Polish Army - Bronisław Kwiatkowski and Kazimierz Gilarski also fell in it. We will remember their contribution to Poland.

We have also felt the burden of the deepening economic crisis, which has worsened the material situation of many Podkarpackie families. The rising cost of living is particularly acute. In recent years Podkarpacie has been regularly devastated by numerous natural disasters. These are problems for which it is necessary to find an appropriate recipe.

During this difficult period, I had the opportunity to support the province through my parliamentary work, including serving as Deputy Speaker of the Sejm since August 4, 2010.

During the previous two-year rule of Law and Justice party we were guided by the principle of balanced development of Poland, which is exceptionally important for Podkarpackie region. We have repeatedly drawn the attention of the current government to growing economic problems in such matters as increasing unemployment, mainly among young people.

A few years ago, by cutting taxes and supporting families (with the first tax write-off for every child in independent Poland), Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski's government reduced unemployment in Poland from 18% to 10%, over 1 million 300 thousand new permanent jobs were created, and youth unemployment fell below 15%. Today it has reached 50%. We also opposed the reduction of infrastructure investment. Those that are currently underway, including the construction of roads and bypasses, were also undertaken while the government of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski was still in power.

We supported the launch of a special Carpathian programme to develop the Polish part of the Carpathians in cooperation with our neighbors. Unfortunately, the current government has abandoned, among other things, the construction of a border crossing in Malhovice. We fought for an equalisation of EU subsidies for Polish farmers. Today, the government has also given up on this. In our work we were guided by the conviction that there are areas, such as education or health, which the state cannot subordinate to the rules of the free market. It should provide all families with equal opportunities to educate their children and improve the situation in the health service. It should also decisively fight against recurring corruption and ensure equal treatment of all citizens by offices, including local ones. 

Dear Sirs,

Thanking you for your cooperation so far, I express my deep hope that the Sejm of the next, seventh term, which will be elected in the autumn, will be able to meet the challenges facing Poland and the so far unsolved problems of the residents of Podkarpacie.

Best regards

Marek Kuchciński

Deputy Speaker of the Polish Sejm