At 9:00 AM, the National Council of the Polish People's Party (PSL) will convene, closed to the media. A press conference following the session is scheduled for around 1:00 PM-1:30 PM. The agrarian party will make the final decision regarding their strategy for the European Parliament elections. According to our sources, there are strong indications that the PSL, similar to the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), will decide to join the European Coalition.

At 11:00 AM in Warsaw, the Law and Justice (PiS) party will hold its convention, during which program proposals will be presented. "It will be, I think, in a very interesting format, perhaps unprecedented in our country so far, an interestingly organized convention during which we will present both a summary of the past few years. Future goals will also be set by our leaders. There will be several speeches that will have the character of a summary on the one hand, and on the other hand, will create a perspective for the coming months," stated Tomasz Poręba in an interview with Piotr Witwicki on Polsat News' "Wydarzenia i opinie" (Events and Opinions).

At 11:30 AM in Hajnówka, a press conference of the SLD will take place with the participation of SLD leader Włodzimierz Czarzasty, the head of the SLD in the Podlaskie Voivodeship Piotr Kusznieruk, and SLD spokesperson Anna-Maria Żukowska.

According to our sources, the ruling party will use the "arena" to present its program proposals. Already yesterday, PiS politicians emphasized that today's event will be organized differently from previous conventions. It is to be a "new format." Tomasz Poręba stated on Polsat News that it "will have the character of a creative intellectual debate, and certainly anyone who follows Polish politics and anyone who wants to watch this convention will not be disappointed."

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The programming convention, which is about to begin, will, according to our sources, be organized in a new format never before attempted. The Expo hall in Warsaw features four stages, referred to as arenas: the Main Arena and three additional thematic ones: Family, Development, and Credibility. Jarosław Kaczyński, Mateusz Morawiecki, Beata Szydło, Jerzy Kwieciński, and Lucjusz Nadbereżny are scheduled to speak. Campaign staff tell us that PiS wants to draw the opposition into a programmatic discussion, which is why one of the slogans will be 'Let's debate on programmatic arenas'.

- We're starting! We're starting the election campaign in 2019. It will be in two rounds. Each of them is important. Poland, Poland's future, the future of Poles are at stake in this campaign. Poland for everyone or Poland for some. This question has many aspects. I believe the two most important are: the issue of equality and the issue of freedom - stated Jarosław Kaczyński at the PiS convention.

"If our opponents win, it will be worse than before. Poles want freedom, equality, equality and freedom, because these are values deeply rooted in our culture. A culture founded on Christianity. These are fundamental values for a civilization that grew out of Christianity, the most benevolent to humans of all civilizations in the history of the world."

"Restoring dignity, equality, but also freedom. Freedom also has this aspect, which is in the pocket. A person who has empty pockets, an empty wallet, is not free. We, taking into account the realities, fill those pockets. Aid for young people entering life up to 26 years of age with no PIT tax for employees"

"In Poland, over the last few decades, bus connections have been halved, from nearly a billion to half a billion. We will restore this. We will restore this billion. We will restore the connections. This is a significant sum, tens of billions of zlotys. These bus connections affect everyone, throughout Poland, but especially smaller towns and villages. The sums that Polish villages will receive will be similar to the subsidy for each hectare of land," said PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński at the party convention.

"We have always been credible. We have proven it. And we will prove it again this time," he added.

- We can do it because we know how. We have proven, starting with Jan Olszewski's government, through the governments of 2005-2007, to the current one, that we can govern well, unlike our opponents. There is one condition: that condition is our victory – stated Jarosław Kaczyński at the PiS convention.

- As I think about what lies ahead, we can imagine it as a match consisting of two halves. The first is nearing its end; it's the first term. But for us to achieve victory, we must win these elections to ride the wave into the second half of this match, into the second term. A second term will allow us to implement our plan, to preserve all the achievements the president has spoken about. To maintain this direction towards freedom, equality, justice, and the rule of law. These are our mottos. We are moving in this direction – stated Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at the PiS convention.

"The months ahead of us, until October, November, must be months of enormous effort from each of us, every member of PiS, everyone who wants to support us. Because only then will we be able to defeat this great coalition that wants things to be worse than they were," said PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński at the party convention.

„Everything is this year. As for the road operation and what retirees will receive, that will be launched. As for the PKS (state bus transport), that will take a bit longer. In April, precisely on May 1st, retirees will receive these sums. From July 1st, 500+ for the first child” - said PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński during the PiS convention.

- This shows that there are two parties in Poland: a party that wants a change of power and a party that wants to change Poland, to change Poland for the better – stated Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at the PiS convention. As he emphasized, the Polish Coalition is seated in the hall.

„[In the European Coalition] things could be different, because by electing a farmer, you might get someone who fights against the tradition of the Polish countryside. They might scatter: some to the socialists, others to the Christian Democrats, a third group to the Greens. A new faction could emerge in the European Parliament – a post-communist faction. Our path to Europe is a path of increasing wealth, decreasing unemployment, and the fastest economic growth. All of this was supposed to fail, but we proved that we can, that we know how to develop Poland for the good of its citizens” – Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said during the PiS convention.

"They promised, and we are delivering. Their budget deficit was 110 billion. Last year we closed with the lowest budget deficit in 30 years, at the level of about 0.5 pp. We want to defend Europe in its infrastructure and prosperity. I know what I'm saying, and I know how to do it. The foundation of credibility gives us the strength that these programmatic points presented by President Kaczyński will be realized in this order. From April, we will rebuild connections so that people can get out. We will allocate funds for every district. From May, the 'thirteenth' for pensioners, for all pensioners in the form of a minimum pension. From July, 500+ for every child. A great achievement" - Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said during the PiS convention.

- We must win the European elections for Poland. These are fundamentally important elections - stated Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at the Law and Justice (PiS) convention.

“Listening to the voices of human hearts, we march towards victory. Ahead of us is the first leap before the break and the second half of the match, when we must establish a new starting position. There hasn't been an election this important in the last 30 years as this election [to the European Parliament, Sejm, and Senate]. We must win” – said Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki during a PiS convention. 

- In June and July, we will be presenting other program points - stated Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at the PiS convention.

„The most important project, a breakthrough, a Copernican revolution in Polish family policy was the 500+ program. It restored dignity to Polish families, opened up new opportunities for children, became a wonderful flywheel for the Polish economy, a symbol of our government, and thanks to it, Poland became a symbol of wise, modern family policy” - said Deputy Prime Minister Beata Szydło during the PiS convention. 

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki will be a guest on "Gość Wiadomości" (Guest of the News) on TVP Info at 7:57 PM.

"Polish history, like the history of any nation, contains both good and bad elements and events. Good and bad tendencies, positive and less positive, and sometimes entirely negative figures. We try to draw from all that was best in our history. While we may not be an association of angels, we are succeeding. We are showing it's possible. We have pulled Poland out of the clutches of impossibilism, from that worst disease that was propagated to us, and whose rejection 25 years ago would have given Poland truly very, very good, noticeable results today, but better late than never. Now we just need to regain public trust again, to convince about our credibility again. We have very strong arguments," said PiS Chairman Jarosław Kaczyński during the party's convention.

With a grand scale of promises, PiS is trying to impose its own narrative, and by swiftly implementing them, it aims to bolster its credibility – this is the most crucial takeaway from today's convention. Every ruling party has an advantage over the opposition because it can introduce social programs that concretely benefit specific voter groups, namely the aforementioned middle class. The pace set by Jarosław Kaczyński's party is key: social and development solutions will be implemented gradually, but as early as the first half of this year, starting with the expansion of 500+. Our sources emphasize that everything has been well calculated and will be executed at a rapid pace.

Polish politics has not seen such social transfers since the beginning of PiS's rule. Prime Minister Morawiecki himself summarized the cost of these social and development proposals: 30-40 billion PLN annually. Grzegorz Schetyna's party will find it difficult to respond to this electoral package of promises because, while one can of course try to outbid everyone, currently only PiS, with its majority, can implement the promises made. That is why important government politicians emphasize credibility at every step – previous announcements have been fulfilled, now it's time for new ones.

This is just the beginning of the campaign – Prime Minister Morawiecki is set to embark on a tour of Poland around the beginning of March – but PiS is entering it from a different position than it might have seemed just a few days earlier. Social programs are something that has yielded tangible political results – such as high poll numbers – so with generous promises, Jarosław Kaczyński's party may buy itself a second term. Arguments about the need for public finance stabilization or irresponsible giveaways will likely emerge, but in such a crucial election year, they will not be of much significance. The convention also hinted at further promises, to be made after the European Parliament elections, in July or June.

Incidentally, unlike at previous conventions, the most important programmatic goals were presented not by Mateusz Morawiecki, but by Jarosław Kaczyński. "The roles were well defined. President Jarosław Kaczyński presented the main program elements, and PMM was given the important role of leader on the path to realizing these plans. This is why his speech referred to credibility several times," says someone from Prime Minister Morawiecki's circle, emphasizing that the President is mobilizing voters in this way. Another states: "You cannot treat a leader like a deputy leader. Mateusz Morawiecki prepared it, but Jarosław Kaczyński has precedence."

Photo: Twitter of Marek Kuchciński

mBank has estimated that the introduction of the "500 Plus" child benefit program from July and the additional payment for pensioners will cost approximately PLN 19 billion in the current year.

- We welcomed the information about PSL joining the EC with joy. Before our eyes, an electoral bloc is being formed by parties, organizations, and people who think about a strong Poland within a strong Europe, within a strong EU, a Poland that will have a subject's role, and will play it as it did in recent years when the PO and PSL government was in power. Today, one can say, this coalition is becoming a fact. Tomorrow a press conference will be held by the leaders of the European Coalition to present the fundamental assumptions of this project - stated Sławomir Neumann at a briefing.

- Today we also saw the formation of an anti-European coalition, a coalition focused around PiS, which does not hide and shows that this Polexit, which they propose to Poles, is a creeping exit from the EU. They propose it first with the government of Beata Szydło, and now with the government of Mateusz Morawiecki. This is what is in the heads of the PiS coalition. Today, Mateusz Morawiecki spoke about this coalition they are forming, saying they are forming it because Poland has been in Europe for 1000 years. This is precisely the difference in understanding of what we, people who want a strong, democratic, European Poland, understand by the European Coalition and Poland's role in the EU. We are setting Poland towards the West, while they are indifferent; they believe that geography alone determines whether someone is in Europe or not – stated Sławomir Neumann at a briefing.

- These elections will be about whether Poland will be a serious partner in the EU, able to pursue its interests, or if it will be a Poland governed by people who are leading Poland out of the EU – he added.

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- This intention for big salaries is within the members of the PiS government, because they'd rather take salaries in Brussels than work for the government. I understand this frustration and perhaps some envy, because until now, Jarosław Kaczyński was the one who built the largest coalition of various groups and parties in parliament. Today, that is no longer the largest coalition. Today, the largest coalition is the grand coalition – stated Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz in an interview with Katarzyna Kolenda-Zaleska on "Fakty po faktach" TVN24.

- "[The presentation of the EP candidate lists] will likely be a matter of the next 2-3 weeks," stated Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz in an interview with Katarzyna Kolenda-Zaleska on TVN24's "Fakty po faktach." He added, "it will be the strongest historical list for the European Parliament."

- They had 8 years to implement good social ideas. They implemented almost nothing back then. That's the first point, and secondly, when I recall the statements of all the most important people from Platforma, Mr. Schetyna, for example, said there was no money for it in the budget at all. Ms. Lubnauer spoke about an "active family," which meant there should be 250 PLN for each child, so they would have cut the program in half. Former President Komorowski made a very unpleasant remark, saying that if someone wants to, they can look for it themselves. Prime Minister Tusk joked that the money was probably buried somewhere, and it's certainly not anywhere. Mr. Rostowski said there was no money and wouldn't be, etc. Prime Minister Kopacz also spoke very sharply on this topic. The credibility of Platforma's assurances is simply zero for me today - stated Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in an interview with Michał Adamczyk on TVP Info's "Gość Wiadomości".

- Collectively, these programs will cost approximately PLN 40 billion annually. These are indeed significant programs, but they also have an investment purpose, as increasing inter-district mobility is very important, as is investment in Polish families, training, and education - stated Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in an interview with Michał Adamczyk on TVP Info's "Gość Wiadomości".

– Beyond numerous changes and keeping our word, in my deepest conviction, we have also revitalized democracy. Because through credibility, we have given people the conviction that a ballot can mean something, that they can hold politicians accountable for fulfilling their promises, and that they can look at, for example, Civic Platform, which promised something and did not deliver it – stated Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in an interview with Michał Adamczyk on TVP Info's "Gość Wiadomości".