NEWS

26/05/2018

14:55

PM Morawiecki: Poland Must Be for Everyone

Michał Olech

PM Morawiecki: Poland Must Be for Everyone - I ask myself the same question many of us asked ourselves in the 80s, when we dreamed of a free Poland. I remember at the time printing one of the leaflets that had the question, the title: who should Poland be for, whose should Poland be? Should this Poland be a Poland of the chosen, the privileged, only of certain interest groups, or should Poland be a Poland for all of us, a Poland of Poles? Of course, throughout the entire period of transformation, when the dawn of freedom broke, I answered this question in an obvious way, precisely like this: that Poland must be for everyone, and the fruits of growth, various kinds of privileges, if any exist, any relief, must be accessible as broadly as possible, not just to a few. This is how I also look back over these decades, because soon 30 years of our freedom will be marked, at the transformation process that took place at the beginning precisely in such a way that society was practically not looked at very much. Hundreds of workplaces were liquidated, very often the State Agricultural Farms (PGRs) were destroyed, which were mainly in the north-western, south-western, from where I come, western regions, here a bit less. PGRs were destroyed, and as a result, a mass of 2-3 million unemployed people, without life prospects, were left to themselves. Why do I remind you of this? Because today, very often this narrative, the story of what is happening around us, is presented mainly. Because we, the most pro-social political team, a pro-social ideological camp, whose center of ideas is solidarity, solidarism, justice, are juxtaposed with someone who adhered to the principles of ultraliberalism, turboliberalism, where society was not a high priority. We must state clearly that people who had hearts of stone and who – our predecessors in particular – did not act for the good of society, have very limited right today to speak out precisely on the pro-social programs that we have implemented, and they did not believe in them at all at the beginning and wanted to close them down. Do you remember the voices that appeared: there is no money for this, it won't work at all, it won't succeed. VAT sealing – we said, and they: it's impossible, absolutely. Show me those hidden billions, Donald Tusk said, when Jarosław Kaczyński just before that said there would be the 500+ program. LOT – for sale, we have Berlin, Munich here, we can possibly fly from other airports. Workplaces – to be ploughed under. Here in the Lublin region, there was a huge risk that the fertilizer plants would be taken over by hostile foreign competition, because that was the plan in 2010-2011. We managed to prevent this as a result of various actions, now consolidation actions. All other programs that we have done and are doing, Mieszkanie plus [Housing plus], are also programs for the people – said Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at a meeting with the residents of Lublin.

Michał Olech