Now that Civic Platform (PO) has control of both Poland's legislature and the Presidential Palace, pressure is mounting for it to enact reforms quickly in order to rein in the country's unwieldy public finances.

As the result of the election became clear, both the domestic and international press emphasized that Prime Minister Donald Tusk's last excuse for avoiding pushing through painful reforms – a president wielding the veto against PO's proposed legislation – has been removed.

“Mr Komorowski's victory means that the last ostensible barrier to necessary but possibly painful reforms, especially of the bloated public finances, has fallen,” wrote The Economist. “From now on, the government will be unable to dismiss any talk of them by invoking the threat of a veto from an obstructive presidential palace. The excuses have run out.”

The Financial Times' Beyond Brics blog bore the headline: “Will Tusk now deliver?” while Poland's best-selling daily, the tabloid Fakt, wrote: “You have all the power now. Show us what you can do.”

However, many remain skeptical that PO will look to implement painful reforms with local government elections coming up in November, and parliamentary elections set for next year.

However National Bank of Poland president Marek Belka, himself a former prime minister, warned against holding back on budget reforms.

“We are not accepting the notion that if an election is coming, then nothing can be done,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg. “Poland is in a good situation compared to its peers, but come on, this is a different world. Nobody is 100 percent crisis-proof.” (AK)