The upcoming week in Polish politics is dominated by the selection of Civic Platform's presidential candidate, the start of a Sejm session, a Supreme Audit Office (NIK) conference, and a Senate committee hearing to which Marian Banaś has been invited.

This week also sees the release of Donald Tusk's book, followed by a public appearance with the former Polish Prime Minister over the weekend. The week also includes the European Council summit, an SLD convention, and further travel for Andrzej Duda.

*****

PAD's Schedule. On Monday, President Andrzej Duda will visit the Subcarpathian Voivodeship, where he will meet with residents of Brzozów County at 4:00 PM and participate in a ceremony commemorating the Dubiecko volunteers for the Polish Legions at 6:30 PM. On Wednesday, PAD will visit Nowe Miasto Lubawskie in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, where he will visit the MM Szynaka Interline factory at 3:00 PM and attend the inauguration ceremony of a new production hall. At 4:30 PM, he will meet with residents of Nowe Miasto County.

NIK Conference. "We invite journalists to a press conference by the Supreme Audit Office (NIK), which will take place on Tuesday, December 10th, at 10:00 AM at the Chamber's headquarters in Warsaw. The conference will concern the latest control results," the Supreme Audit Office announced on Twitter.

Senate Committee on Banaś. On Tuesday at 12:00 PM, a meeting of the Senate Committee on Local Government and State Administration will be held. The agenda includes a meeting with the President of NIK, though it is currently unknown if Marian Banaś will appear on Wiejska Street (the location of the Senate).

Tokarczuk Receives Nobel Prize. On Tuesday in Stockholm, Olga Tokarczuk will receive the Nobel Prize in Literature – a gold medal and diploma – from the King of Sweden. The ceremony will begin at 4:30 PM. In the evening, a royal banquet will be held at Stockholm City Hall.

Tusk's Book Launch. On Thursday, Donald Tusk's book “Szczerze” (Honestly) will be released in bookstores. Two days later, on Saturday, a book signing event with the former President of the European Council will take place. "Day by day, we accompany his first steps in his new role, we learn about the behind-the-scenes of European politics, and we follow the most dramatic events of recent years: terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, the refugee crisis, the death of the Mayor of Gdańsk, Paweł Adamowicz, and the endless negotiations regarding Brexit. The book also features multidimensional and surprising portraits of the most important figures in world politics, from Barack Obama and Angela Merkel to Donald Trump and Boris Johnson," the publisher announces.

Sejm Session. On Thursday at 10:00 AM, a session of the Sejm will commence, which will continue next week. On the first day of the session – according to the preliminary schedule seen by 300POLITYKA – MPs will address the government's bill to re-suspend the application of the retail sales tax. This first reading is the first item on the agenda. The plan for the day also includes changes to the Sejm's standing orders (concerning the election of a new National Election Commission) and the second reading of the bill regarding the so-called “small ZUS plus” (a simplified social security contribution scheme for small businesses).

EU Summit. On Thursday and Friday, the European Council will convene in Brussels. The summit will be chaired for the first time by Charles Michel, who was elected President of the European Council by EU leaders in July. EU leaders will address a range of issues, including climate change and the long-term EU budget.

Civic Platform and The Left Conventions. On Saturday, the Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska) convention will take place, at which the party's presidential candidate will be chosen. On the same day, the Civic Platform's National Council will convene to call for elections for the party's leader. Furthermore, on Saturday, during a convention in Warsaw, a new statute for the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) will be adopted, enabling its merger with Robert Biedroń's Spring party. Spring is also expected to make similar decisions.

Photo: Donald Tusk's Facebook

- I will say it directly. For the first time publicly. Elections will be announced at the beginning of the year. I want to run in them. I want to run for this job here. Please entrust me with the role of guardian of the national community - said Szymon Hołownia at a meeting with supporters in Gdańsk. - None of this can be done by someone who emerges from a sick system. The system has frozen; for it to unfreeze, we must install a non-partisan fuse in it in May 2020. We need an arbiter who will not play with one of the teams. The President is not a guardian of the chandelier; he cannot promise the moon but has plenty to be a guarantor that voters from PiS and PSL, Platforma and Konfederacja, and other parties will fit in this country - Hołownia stated. - I will show you experts, volunteers; we are truly going to win these elections, to convince those few million people – after all, it's our national specialty – that the impossible is possible. That our only boss is us – the nation – he added. - I say this as a Catholic: a friendly separation of state and church must be carried out - this is perhaps one of the most anticipated statements from the candidate. - I want a president who will separate the parties tangled in a paralyzing clinch and transform all the energy burned on disputes into energy for building a better Poland. (...) You will see that 2020 will be the year we tell our children about, that this is when the 21st century began in Poland! - he said. - I hope this will be a good evening, and then good days and good years for all of us - Hołownia began with these words, invited on stage by Michał Kobosko, former editor-in-chief of Forbes: - The Shakespeare Theatre is an excellent place to end the Hamletizing. It's very good to start a better reality in Gdańsk. During the factory of good here in Gdańsk, a Pole killed a Pole. In the prosperity skyscraper being built, it turned out that someone was simultaneously demolishing the structure, something without which this building cannot stand – the community. Gdańsk has a wonderful motto – without insolence, but also without fear.  - Can someone who has not been involved in politics before be the president of Poland? - this was one of the questions from a social experiment shown at the beginning of the meeting in Gdańsk. - 73% believe that the president does not need to be affiliated with any party - said Michał Kobosko and invited Szymon Hołownia onto the stage. As expected, Hołownia spoke extensively about climate change: - We live in a world where there will soon be no water in the rivers. We produce food for 15 billion people, and a billion go hungry. And in Poland, what do we hear? Everything is important and necessary, but I hear very well what you say at my author's meetings – war, a trap, everyone offended. Compromise is your capitulation.  Hołownia spoke about Poland being trapped in disputes from the 1990s: - Why is there so little air and space? Because the 1990s with their disputes about everything and solving problems with an axe have not ended in Poland. It's time to stop giving in to sellers of solutions as simple as a flail. Parties are busy with who will be the leader, who will get the top spot. They talk about everything but not about what is most important. - Politics is one of the tools for making change - he said: - Not a swamp. Good politics is not about demonstrating strength but about helping people discover the power within them. I want a solidaristic Poland that is as strong as its weakest, not its strongest member.  - A transsexual girl who jumped off a bridge because she was harassed - Hołownia listed those harmed in Poland. The second part of the meeting featured a kind of interview with the candidate on stage. - There is no money from Dominika Kulczyk, Jerzy Starak, no Jesuits here. I believe in community financing, that we will buy back this democracy ourselves. My two foundations show how people who want to contribute operate - Hołownia replied to questions from Justyna Dżbik, a journalist from Radio ZET. - For 20 years, I have been too right for the right and too left for the left. I find texts amusing, like when in some poll I was in the second round with Andrzej Duda, and the headline was "War of the Kneelers" - Hołownia said. - I am in favor of people having a full spectrum of choice in the first round - he answered a question about the mechanisms of politics in elections.