Jozef Oleksy, a former Prime Minister of Poland, died on Friday at the age of 68.

Oleksy held the post of premier between 1995 and 1996, after serving as Sejm speaker between 1993 and 1995.

“Jozef Oleksy has passed away today,” an SLD spokesperson said. Local media said he was taken to an oncology hospital. He had battled cancer for many years.

Former President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa was not only saddened by the death, but also felt sorry that he did not ask for forgiveness over past accusations that Oleksy was a communist agent.

“I have a pang of conscience over Jozef Oleksy. Well, I had an appointment with him, because I wanted to apologise for [calling him a] Russian agent. But through a series of misfortune I broke my leg [in December] and could not do that. So today I publicly apologise and ask for forgiveness,” Walesa said.

Oleksy was a central figure in the round-table talks which led to the establishing of the Third Republic of Poland. Before the fall of communism in 1990, he had been a long-serving functionary in the party, becoming a member in 1969.

Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz has joined other dignitaries in signing a condolence book at the French Embassy in Warsaw in tribute to the victims of the 7 January Paris shootings.

”I am united in grief with the families and loved ones of the victims, as well as French society,” the prime minister wrote.

”We are with you at this difficult time.

”We will remember those who died in this cruel attack.”

The condolence book was also signed by Speaker of Parliament Radoslaw Sikorski, and President Bronislaw Komorowski.

The latter told journalists that „we are with France not only in our thoughts and expressions of sympathy, but also in our firm intent on preventing any terrorist activities in Europe and the world.

”Therefore we are observing what is happening with grave concern and I hope that we will not have to deal with an escalation, and a spiral of similar events,” he added.

Manhunt continues

Meanwhile, two days after the attack on the office of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, the manhunt continues for two suspects.

Counter terrorism police made house to house searches in the northern French countryside on Thursday following alleged sightings of the two brothers at a petrol station in the town of l’Aisne.

It has been reported that Said Kouachi, 34, spent several months in Yemen in 2011, where he was apparently trained by al-Qaeda.

Twelve people, including two police officers died in the attack on the office of the French weekly.

The Health Ministry and a union of doctors have agreed on mutual terms and clinics will open on Wednesday.

Following an intense 15-hour meeting which started on Tuesday, doctors from the so-called “Zielona Gora Agreement” agreed to open dozens of clinics around the country, after they had been closed in protest since 1 January.

“This has been a success – for our physicians and our patients. We will open the clinics,” the group wrote on its Facebook page just before 7 a.m.

Representatives of the Agreement were called for a meeting with Health Minister Bartosz Arlukowicz at 4 p.m. on Tuesday – a public holiday in Poland.

“Today is a bank holiday, and today is the day on which all general practitioners in Poland have a day off. I want to have an absolutely clear conscience and the full conviction that I did everything for the safety of [Polish] patients,” Arlukowicz said prior to the meeting.

It was not immediately clear what deal was agreed upon between the doctor’s union and the Ministry, however the protests were over such issues as yearly budgets, and contracts for doctors, which in Poland need to be renewed every year.

Poland’s finance minister Mateusz Szczurek has been named ‘Finance Minister of the Year 2015, Europe’ by The Banker, a London-based financial monthly owned by The Financial Times.

Szczurek, who has been finance minister since November 2013, has already received praise on the international stage, being named ‘Finance Minister of the Year Central & Eastern Europe’ at the end of 2014.

The Banker pointed to Poland’s continuous high GDP growth as justification for the award. It commented, “[Poland’s] economy may be the poster child for the central and Eastern Europe region – but western European countries could also learn a lot from Poland’s success.”
The paper also noted that Poland’s public budget deficit has been falling under Szczurek, reaching 3.3 percent of GDP in 2014, and is expected to fall beneath the EU target of 3 percent over the course of this year.

In addition Szczurek has been active in reforming the Polish tax system and its administration. Since taking office he has cracked down on fiscal crimes while also attempting to simplify procedures for filling in tax returns.

Jacek Rostowski, the former finance minister who was replaced by Szczurek, congratulated him on Twitter for the award. Rostowski himself has been previously named „European minister of Finance” by The Banker.

The National Union of Doctors (OZZL) has said that it is considering protesting the failure of recent negotiations with the Health Ministry.

In a joint press conference with the Polish Chamber of Physicians, OZZL said that it is even mulling a nationwide strike if their conditions are not met.

“The Health Ministry wants to cause a falling out among General Practitioners, “but we want to unite them,” said Wlodzimierz Hoffmann from the Wielkopolski Health Employers Association.

Hundreds of Polish doctors have not yet signed contracts for the treatment of patients in 2015, leading to scores of polyclinics remaining closed around the country. This has caused long queues at the outpatient departments at the centres which have opened their doors.

The doctors have not come to an agreement with the Health Ministry over several issues which include doctor referrals, budgets and queues for the Primary Healthcare services (POZ).

On Sunday, Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz called a meeting with Health Minister Bartosz Arlukowicz over the escalating crisis. Following the meeting, Minister Arlukowicz urged Polish patients affected by he protests to change doctors to those who have signed the contracts.

He added that doctors have requested a budget of PLN 2 billion, but only received half that amount from the Ministry.
Health Ministry data indicates that 85 percent of Polish doctors have already signed the new contracts for 2015.

Polish Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna will fly to the United States for a series of meetings with US Secretary of State John Kerry.

The two politicians are expected to discuss the volatile situation in Ukraine and the Islamic State terrorist organisation.
While in the US, Schetyna will also meet several members of Congress.

Tuesday’s trip will the first official visit to the US by the Schetyna who took over the post in September. The trip will end on Friday.