Can Belka keep his job?

MAREK BELKA, governor of the National Bank of Poland, is fighting to hang on to his post and his reputation. An obscenity-laced recording appears to show the boss of Poland's central bank striking a deal to support the government of Donald Tusk (pictured) in the event of a financial crisis in return for the head of the former finance minister, Jacek Rostowski.

The recording was revealed over the weekend by Wprost, a weekly. The magazine did not say how it obtained the recording, apparently made last July at a restaurant popular with Warsaw's politicians.

Mr Belka appears to be talking with Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz, the interior minister, in the recording. Mr Sienkiewicz discusses a scenario of an economic slowdown before next year's parliamentary elections, which could allow the opposition Law and Justice party to win. The minister then sounds out Mr Belka about the central bank intervening, but worries Mr Rostowski would object as any such unorthodox move could spook markets.

Mr Belka agrees but then adds, “My condition, excuse me, is the dismissal of the finance minister,” whom he disparagingly dubs,...Continue reading