Seeing double

Warsaw

The identical twin of Polish President Lech Kaczynski became prime minister this week, a move sure to cause confusion among foreign correspondents. Jaroslaw Kaczynski turned down the premiership last October, saying that concentrating so much power in one family would be bad for Poland’s young democracy. But he evidently changed his mind after Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz quit the post last week. Marcinkiewicz was from the moderate, pro-market wing of the ruling Law and Justice Party, and he frequently clashed with the socially conservative Kaczynski brothers. Poland is now expected to distance itself from the E.U., where the twins are seen as humorless nationalists. Lech canceled a visit to Germany last week after a German tabloid compared him to a potato.

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