-- THE PRIME MINISTER PAINTS EGGS WITH CHILDREN: "We must unite, not divide. Build community" – Prime Minister Morawiecki extends Easter wishes https://300polityka.pl/news/2018/03/31/musimy-laczyc-nie-dzielic-budowac-wspolnote-premier-morawiecki-sklada-swiateczne-zyczenia/

-- THE PRIME MINISTER'S CHIEF OF STAFF ANNOUNCES HE WILL NO LONGER VOTE FOR PRESIDENT DUDA – AS MAREK SUSKI SAID ON SUPERSTACJA [statement based on quotes sent by Superstacja to the media]: “I don't think that post-communist electorate, defending Jaruzelski, will suddenly start supporting Andrzej Duda. However, the President – of course, he has the right to veto laws – but he no longer has my vote.”

-- SUSKI ON A STEP TOWARDS THE ELECTORATE THAT SERVED RUSSIA – SPOKE TO SUPERSTACJA [according to the transcript provided by the station]: “Apart from surprise, there is disappointment. I think the President has taken a step towards, at least from his point of view, the left-wing post-communist electorate, those who served Russia, (...) more towards the hard core of communists who cooperated with Moscow.”

-- JACEK KARNOWSKI ON THE PRESIDENT'S MOVE TOWARDS RE-ELECTION: “One can also ask whether this veto is not also the result of the President's assessment of Law and Justice's chances for another four years in government? Because one might get the impression that with such a surprising move, the head of state is somehow preparing for a re-election campaign in completely different circumstances than today. This is just my intuition, but I think there might be something to it.”

-- JAROSŁAW KACZYŃSKI PERFECTLY UNDERSTANDS THAT WITHOUT SMOOTH COOPERATION WITH THE PRESIDENT, THE GOOD CHANGE HAS NO CHANCE – CONTINUES JACEK KARNOWSKI: “Having said all this, one cannot forget the lesson from the July vetoes. And that lesson is simple: above all, one must remain calm. Without smooth cooperation with the president, the Good Change has no chance. Jarosław Kaczyński, who has done a lot to mend the relationship between the parliamentary majority and the head of state after that 'serious mistake', understands this perfectly. Generally, he has succeeded better than one might have expected, to mutual benefit. Therefore, today's veto will likely be considered – in my assessment – an incident rather than a turning point.” https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/388318-dlaczego-prezydent-zawetowal-to-kurs-na-samodzielnosc-ale-to-takze-logika-gry-o-reelekcje-dla-pis-dosc-kosztowna

-- THE PRESIDENT PROTECTED POLAND – EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF WPOLITYCE MARZENA NYKIEL DEFENDS THE PRESIDENT'S DECISION: “By vetoing the degradation act, the President protected Poland from further waves of accusations. Unfortunately, a part of the electorate is carried away by a primitive and naive attempt to undermine the President's credibility. Accusations of treason and consolidating the establishment are already being heard. Tomasz Sakiewicz even stated on TVP Info that this is an extraordinary day.”

-- CHANGES MUST BE MADE WISELY – NYKIEL CONTINUES: “The Good Change camp is implementing a series of reforms important for Poland. However, it must do so wisely. Schoolboy errors that appear in some crucial laws are unacceptable. The question is, why are they happening? Is it sabotage intended to sink the good change? Haste? Carelessness? Regardless of the reasons, the effect is the same: undermining the credibility of the ruling camp and dividing the right-wing electorate. Do we really have to fall for this?” https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/388240-pelna-zgoda-z-decyzja-prezydenta-dobra-zmiana-nie-moze-produkowac-bubli-kolejne-weto-wynika-z-niedopracowania-ustawy-i-gluchoty-parlamentu-dlaczego

-- WHY ISN'T PIS LEARNING FROM MISTAKES – EDYTA HOŁDYŃSKA ON WPOLITYCE: “Why isn't PiS learning from mistakes? Why did a situation have to arise where such an important law in its assumptions is underdeveloped? But such important laws, like those reforming the judiciary, or this degradation one, should be well-prepared in terms of substance. There is no room for errors and legal deficiencies here. The question arises whether someone simply didn't want this difference of opinion. And if there were remarks about the law within the community, which there were, why were they simply, humanly, not taken into account?” https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/388264-dlaczego-pis-nie-uczy-sie-na-bledach-dlaczego-musialo-dojsc-do-sytuacji-kiedy-tak-wazna-w-swoich-zalozeniach-ustawa-jest-niedopracowana

-- IT IS EVIDENT THAT A CERTAIN POLITICAL PERSONALITY OF THE PRESIDENTIAL CENTER HAS BEEN ACCEPTED – MICHAŁ KARNOWSKI: “After the July emotions (vetoes on judiciary laws), there is no trace left in public opinion today. President Andrzej Duda's veto of the degradation act was not expected, yet it is difficult to speak of shock. It is evident that a certain political personality of the presidential center has been accepted.” https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/388275-nikogo-nie-winie-ale-szkoda-urodzilismy-sie-z-tymi-sowieckimi-generalami-z-nimi-chyba-umrzemy

-- THE PRESIDENT ACTED IN AN EXTREMELY PRUDENT MANNER – ADVOCATE PIOTR ŁUKASZ JULIUSZ ANDRZEJEWSKI for wPolityce: “According to Article 126 of the Constitution, the President has an obligation to monitor the functioning of all other branches of government in terms of compliance with the Constitution. The issue of two-instance proceedings in any procedure is a principle that is a value of the rule of law and a principle of the system's functioning. The President is sending the law back to the Sejm with a specific indication of where it should be amended. This concerns not the spirit of the law itself, but procedures that must be transparent and involve multiple instances. It appears that the President acted in an extremely prudent manner, preempting potential arguments that would claim that in procedures applied in a just cause, retribution is enacted while bypassing the verification of the past concerning individuals who were meritorious to the totalitarian system.” https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/388245-trzy-pytania-do-mec-andrzejewskiego-zrozumialym-jest-stanowisko-prezydenta-w-zakresie-indywidualizacji-przynaleznosci-do-wron-ustawe-nalezy-poprawic

-- SENATOR JAN ŻARYN ON THE PRESIDENT'S VALUABLE GUIDANCE: “I believe it should be corrected as soon as possible. In my opinion, the President's guidance is valuable, especially in two aspects. Firstly, from the perspective of injustice. This is extremely important here when it comes to the potential degradation of lower-ranking officers of the Polish People's Army compared to higher-ranking officers who were more protected. This needs to be examined and it must be seen whether the principle of justice is indeed violated here. Secondly, I was also in favor of having a more developed appeal path that would allow for the application of law not only in an administrative capacity.” https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/388244-nasz-wywiad-prof-zaryn-o-zawetowaniu-ustawy-degradacyjnej-uwazam-ze-nalezy-ja-jak-najszybciej-poprawic-wskazowki-pana-prezydenta-sa-cenne

-- SHOCK AFTER THE PRESIDENT'S DECISION – GPC: “These will be merry holidays for all soldiers of the communist services of the Polish People's Republic, members of WRON, and heirs of the functionaries of KBW and Military Intelligence. President Andrzej Duda vetoed the degradation act, which would have stripped ranks from, among others, Czesław Kiszczak and Wojciech Jaruzelski. The opposition is ecstatic. PiS announces another draft law.”

-- A SMALL GROUP OF WRON MEMBERS AND THEIR LIKES MAY NOT BE ENOUGH FOR THE PRESIDENT TO WIN RE-ELECTION – WOJCIECH MUCHA IN GPC: “An anti-communist, whom Paweł Piekarczyk called, had a right to be surprised. The voters of Andrzej Duda have a right to be surprised. One can only hope that the issue of the degradation of communists was not buried on Friday, and that the legal doubts will be – as the president himself assures – clarified. As a voter of Andrzej Duda, I have such hope, and so do you. If it were otherwise, if it turned out that the veto buried this matter, it might turn out that a small group of WRON members and their ilk, pleased with this turn of events, may not be enough for the president to win re-election.”

-- TOMASZ SAKIEWICZ: DUDA WILL WIN OVER MONIKA JARUZELSKA AND WRON – SAYS IN SE: “Andrzej Duda will probably win over the SLD electorate, Monika Jaruzelska, and WRON. The question is, will he retain his own? It was not the SLD voters who caused Andrzej Duda to be president today.”

-- THE PRESIDENT STOPS LISTENING TO KACZYŃSKI – SAKIEWICZ CONTINUES IN SE: “The President has recently shown exceptional independence, and I must admit it. He stops listening to Jarosław Kaczyński. At the same time, he is very compliant with his advisors. Is this a better choice? The voters will decide.” http://www.se.pl/wiadomosci/opinie/sakiewicz-prezydenta-ocenia-wyborcy_1047337.html

-- PAWEŁ LISICKI ON THE PRESIDENT'S DRIVING FORCE, THAT THE LAW SERVED THE LEFT – SAYS IN SE: “It is difficult to determine what doubts the president had. Looking at all this from the outside, I believe that one of its driving forces was the conviction that the degradation act could lead to the strengthening of the left on the political market.” http://www.se.pl/wiadomosci/opinie/Lisicki-ta-ustawa-wzmacniaa-lewice_1047359.html

-- THE PRESIDENT DEALT A BLOW TO PIS – FACT's front page headline. https://www.fakt.pl/wydarzenia/polityka/andrzej-duda-zawetowal-ustawe-degradacyjna/09gnq0m

-- THE PRESIDENT DRAWS CONCLUSIONS – Editor-in-chief of Fakt, Robert Feluś.

-- ŁUKASZ PAWŁOWSKI ON PIS IN A CLINCH – WRITES IN KL: “Under such circumstances, the only chance for a 'new beginning' for the current team is a spectacular success, a spectacular tragedy, after which Morawiecki could finally prove himself as a leader, or a spectacular personnel change. The first scenario is unlikely, I wish no one the second, and the latter means that the president himself would have to become the prime minister, which is an obvious recipe for defeat for PiS.” https://kulturaliberalna.pl/2018/03/30/poparcie-sondaz-pis-spadek-pawlowski-komentarz/

-- MICHAŁ SZUŁDRZYŃSKI ON THE FACT THAT THERE IS NO RETURN TO 2015 AND A NEW ORDER MUST EMERGE – WRITES IN RZ: “Polish politics offers more hope for the future than one might infer from the struggle between two political tribes. Such a deep division means that there is no return to the Third Republic, and therefore no return to its systemic flaws and pathologies. And this is definitely good news. (...) However, it is time to realize that there is no return to what was before the 2015 elections. We live in a completely different world now. There is no return to the state from three years ago – neither regarding the Constitutional Tribunal, nor public media, nor even the functioning of the government or the Sejm, nor the entire institutional order. As Jarosław Flis once stated, we are dealing with the Ninth Republic today. Why the ninth? Because nine is three squared, meaning that instead of combating the pathologies of the Third Republic, they have been magnified to monstrous proportions. After this, some new order must emerge.”

-- POLISH DIVISIONS MAY HAVE POSITIVE CONSEQUENCES – SZUŁDRZYŃSKI WRITES: “It is worth noting, however, that such deep divisions can have positive long-term consequences. By engaging supporters of both sides, they can contribute to the growth of patriotism. Deep political identities unleash a fervent conviction about the necessity of caring for the homeland and securing it against external influences. For now, this patriotism is negatively oriented – against the other group. But it is up to those politicians who look ahead to transform this genuine concern for the common good felt by citizens into a community.” http://www.rp.pl/Plus-Minus/303299954-Michal-Szuldrzynski-Nie-ma-powrotu-do-III-RP-Kto-zbuduje-nowy-lad-spoleczny-i-polityczny-w-Polsce.html&cid=44&template=restricted

-- PIS'S GOVERNMENT IS ANTI-PARTICIPATORY – JAREMA PIEKUTOWSKI, sociologist, chief social expert of "Nowa Konfederacja", member of the "Więź" Laboratory team in an interview with Michał Wilgocki in GW: “PiS's government is centralist and anti-participatory. It disregards social consultations and various other forms of inviting people to participate in governance. If PiS limits this participation, citizens will become discouraged, just as they became discouraged with PO.”

-- PIS WILL FALL BECAUSE OF THIS – SAYS PIEKUTOWSKI: "And PiS will fall because of this, just as Platforma fell. One of the PO politicians once said that his party would rule for a long time because it perfectly understood the balance of interests in Poland. It turned out that it might have understood it, but in the short term. And PiS understood more. It realized that the Western, liberal capitalist system causes frustration in many people – throughout Europe – leading to a deficit of dignity. So, it distilled left-wing solutions and added a dignity-nationalistic wrapper. Zbigniew Herbert once said about the relationship with the nation that, yes, it is a certain knot. But, in his opinion, it should be the last knot that, when unraveling, becomes tangled. And liberal elites thought that it could be tangled immediately. That a cosmopolitan society could be built here at once. In my opinion, it is not possible; the years of communism and partitions are too deeply ingrained in us to take away this patriotic wrapper. Besides, we are simply attached to it, and there is no sin in that, as long as we are not dealing with chauvinism. And the elites have ridiculed this since 1989.” http://wyborcza.pl/osiemdziesiat dziewiec/7,159012,23209889,jarema-piekutowski-z-nowej-konfederacji-zadna-zmiana-wladza.html

-- THE TEST OF POLITICS WILL BE ADDING NEW SUBSTANCE TO THE POT – MICHAŁ SUTOWSKI IN KRYTYKA POLITYCZNA: “And one more thing – tea doesn't get sweeter from just stirring. A survey from the end of March shows changes in proportions, but within the same ingredients. The real test for Polish politics will be adding new substance to the pot.” http://krytykapolityczna.pl/kraj/pis-spada-w-sondazach-duzo-mieszania-herbata-dalej-gorzka/

-- IZABELLA CYWIŃSKA CRITICAL OF GLIŃSKI – AS SHE SAYS IN AN INTERVIEW WITH ELIZA OLCZYK IN RZ: “I look with horror at the actions of Minister Piotr Gliński, his love for museums and dislike for contemporary art. He is not seen at vernissages, premieres, etc. It's as if he's only interested in the past and the Cursed Soldiers. Moreover, he also censors the past, sometimes even against copyright law, as was the case with the exhibition at the Museum of the Second World War. Sad.”

-- IZABELLA CYWIŃSKA ON MAZOWIECKI AND WAŁĘSA: “I was in London then, I was staying in a hotel where I had a bed with a beautifully embroidered canopy. I remember, it was like in a Grimm Brothers fairy tale, I was lying in that bed when my distant cousin called and told me that Mazowiecki had lost the election. She was crying, I was staring at that beautifully embroidered canopy and wondering. I was terribly sad. Now we like Wałęsa. I defend him wherever I can. But back then, I held a terrible grudge against him.” http://archiwum.rp.pl/artykul/1369979-Zachowac-wolnosc-w-calej-jej-pieknosci.html

-- GLIŃSKI TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE YACHT – AS HE WROTE TO wPolityce: “I would ask you not to participate in the 'Polish hell'. I take responsibility for this project of a patriotic, educational nature. It is directed at youth, it is also media-oriented (it already is :)), and it was supposed to be an event that transcends divisions. And yet, it has united haters. Nevertheless, we will do it. For Poland.” https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/388325-tylko-u-nas-wicepremier-piotr-glinski-o-rejsie-polska100-prosilbym-o-nieuczestniczenie-w-polskim-piekle-biore-odpowiedzialnosc-za-ten-projekt

-- BIRTHDAYS: Justyna Dobrosz-Oracz (turning 40), Anna Paluch, Tomasz Poręba (45), Alojzy Pietrzyk, Andrzej Kosztowniak, SUNDAY: Wojciech Jasiński, Katarzyna Zawada, MONDAY: Agata Kornhauser-Duda, Ludwika Wujec, Krzysztof Skórzyński, Krzysztof Skowroński, Roman Młodkowski.

-- Today, our friend Kermit the shar pei, also celebrates his birthday!