WARSAW, Poland, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told parliament Friday his pro-European Union coalition government will pursue a liberal economy with social welfare policies.
In his 3-hour address to the new Polish parliament following general elections Oct. 21, Tusk promised to raise wages for public sector employees, reduce taxes, cut down a state budget deficit and speed up the privatization process, Polish Radio reported.
Tusk, whose liberal Civic Platform defeated the conservative nationalist Law and Justice party of former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski in parliamentary polls, said he will intensify fighting corruption.
Tusk said he will sign the Lisbon reform treaty of the European Union, and will join Britain in signing a protocol limiting the application of fundamental rights.
He reiterated his election campaign pleas to pull out Poland's 900 troops from Iraq in 2008.
Tusk's Civic Platform, with 209 deputies, and the Polish Peasant party, with 31 deputies, have formed the coalition Cabinet that has a majority of 240 deputies in the 460-seat Parliament's lower house, or the Sejm.
The Law and Justice party with 166 deputies has become the biggest opposition group in parliament.
