-- PRESIDENT SPOKE WITH MINISTER RAFALSKA FOR OVER TWO HOURS ON MONDAY - NEWS 300: https://300polityka.pl/news/2018/04/25/news-300-prezydent-w-poniedzialek-ponad-dwie-godziny-rozmawial-z-rafalska/

-- 300LIVE: MINISTERS' TALKS WITH PROTESTERS:https://300polityka.pl/live/2018/04/25/

-- GERMANY IS GOING FOR EVEN GREATER DOMINANCE IN THE MEDIA MARKET, AND THE GOVERNMENT APPLAUDS - WPOLITYCE: “The Springer concern itself is extremely active in lobbying for favorable regulations. It's hard to be surprised. It's about great power and money. It also does this in Poland through cooperating institutions, where people distinguished in solidifying the media order in the Third Polish Republic play the leading role. That they manage to convince MEPs from Civic Platform is the least surprising. Attempts and efforts to support German media interests are also underway with some MEPs and PiS politicians. The short-sighted, individual interest of one or another politician, vague promises of lighter treatment by German media should not be the deciding factor here.”

-- THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE WILL SUPPORT BERLIN'S STANCE - FURTHER wPOLITYCE: “However, today we obtained information that the instructions being prepared in the Ministry of Culture are to support Berlin's stance at Friday's Council of the EU session. Perhaps someone lacks the reflection to answer a simple question: Why are we supporting German media corporations? Have we not experienced enough to what their strength can be used for?” https://wpolityce.pl/media/391705-niemcy-ida-po-jeszcze-wieksza-dominacje-w-mediach-a-polski-rzad-przyklaskuje

-- 28 THOUSAND REWARD FOR GLIŃSKI'S DRIVER - a headline in Fakt.

-- PROF. PARUCH HEADS THE CHANCELLERY OF THE PRIME MINISTER'S STRATEGIC ANALYSIS CENTER: https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/391713-premier-powolal-pelnomocnika-ds-centrum-analiz-strategicznych-nowej-jednostki-kprm-funkcje-obejmie-prof-waldemar-paruch

-- KRZYSZTOF SZCZERSKI ON THE BACKGROUND OF TALKS WITH TIMMERMANS - in an interview with Jerzy Haszczyński and Jędrzej Bielecki in RZ: “During a recent visit to the Presidential Palace, the Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, did not mention any of these three conditions. Either they appeared after his return to Brussels, or they were never stated and are merely backstage reports. In Warsaw, the discussion was only about how to understand the extraordinary complaint, how to detail it, not to revoke it, although the Commission's critical attitude towards this instrument was clearly presented to us. Regarding judges, we agreed that the state has the right to set an retirement age for them. The discussion concerned only the procedure for requesting an extension of the possibility of adjudication. There was no mention of President Gersdorf personally. Therefore, after this conversation, we said that a compromise was possible. Now it's difficult for me to react to proposals that were never formulated towards us.” http://www.prezydent.pl/kancelaria/aktywnosc-ministrow/art,1168,krzysztof-szczerski-przeglosowanie-polski-doprowadziloby-do-powaznego-kryzysu-w-ue.html

-- THE OPPOSITION IS TESTING THE SOCIAL VARIANT - writes Jacek Karnowski on wPolityce: “This is certainly an important moment. After the defeat of the strategy popularly known as 'the street' and the burning out of 'the foreign,' the opposition is testing the social variant, which is a bidding war with the government on promises. It is counting on the voters' short memory and on a general awakening of appetites.”

-- NO ONE WILL PROMISE AS MUCH AS THE THIRD POLISH REPUBLIC, AND NO ONE WILL TAKE AWAY AS MUCH AS IT DOES - Karnowski's conclusion: “From the perspective of Civic Platform or Nowoczesna, such a strategy has certain advantages, although it may also end in a spectacular failure; after all, the government has the money and, ultimately, credibility in this area. However, playing into the opposition's hands is certainly a suicidal strategy from the perspective of people with disabilities and other needy individuals. No one will promise as much as the Third Polish Republic will promise, and no one will take away as much as it does.” https://wpolityce.pl/m/spoleczenstwo/391709-dawno-nie-bylo-u-nas-takiego-przykladu-cynizmu-jak-protest-niepelnosprawnych-nakrecany-przez-partie-prymitywnego-darwinizmu

-- FARCE IN THE SEJM. THE GOVERNMENT SIGNED AN AGREEMENT WITH ITS OWN COUNCIL - headline in GW.

-- MICHAŁ KARNOWSKI ON THE SOLIDARITY LEVY: “This is probably just a sham. The children of the PRL and Balcerowicz will never be cured of their love for wild, post-communist capitalism; they will never achieve real social solidarity. For them, it begins and ends with the Owsiak auction, where they will throw in a few thousand zlotys (though even that is pleasing). A 'solidarity levy' could be a real breakthrough in our social life, as there are many areas where communal thinking is dramatically lacking. From healthcare to education, to road and rail infrastructure.” https://wpolityce.pl/m/polityka/391567-dzieci-prl-i-balcerowicza-nigdy-nie-wylecza-sie-z-milosci-do-dzikiego-postkomunistycznego-kapitalizmu

-- MICHAŁ SZUŁDRZYŃSKI COMPARES THE REHABILITATION ALLOWANCE DEMAND TO THE SITUATION WITH PROM ABUSES - as written in RZ: “However, one must also understand the government, which does not want to agree to some demands not out of reluctance or lack of money, but due to fear of abuse. Its task is to develop a system that will not be susceptible to them. We remember well that the pension system, like subsidies for disabled individuals from PFRON, was one of the biggest pathologies and grey areas in the Third Polish Republic for many years. Therefore, it is not surprising that the government prefers to agree to state-paid assistants for disabled families rather than increase the amounts that caregivers of disabled people receive in cash. The same applies to the so-called rehabilitation allowance. It is better to increase benefit limits than to give cash, for which they will acquire the benefits themselves. We are talking about hundreds of millions of zlotys. However, PiS, which decided to give citizens 500 PLN per child itself, will have trouble explaining why it does not want to transfer cash in this case. However, this does not mean that there are no justified arguments for seeking other solutions.” http://www.rp.pl/Polityka/304249917-Szuldrzynski-Rzad-probuje-uniknac-politycznej-pulapki.html&template=restricted

-- RZ ON THE "DISTRIBUTION FESTIVAL" - Marcin Niewiadomski: “Currently, we are witnessing a distribution festival. Miners are getting their pay raises, thousands of families have been supported by money from the 500+ program for two years, and in September, every parent of a school-aged child is to receive a one-time allowance of 300 PLN. Teachers are already lining up for higher salaries, and it's only a matter of time before other social groups start reaching out for money. Will then – following the example of the solidarity tax proposed by the government to support families raising disabled children – new fiscal burdens await us, or will other processed meats be offered alongside the electoral sausage?” http://www.rp.pl/Opinie/304249915-Festiwal-podwyzek-trwa.html&template=restricted

-- PIS IS DEFYING Duda - Paweł Wroński in GW on the referendum.

-- INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATION INTO MASS ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION BY THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR AND THE TURNING OF A BLIND EYE BY INSTITUTIONS: “And something that is not always visible to the naked eye, but is known to exist: environmental pollution. ‘Two or three years ago, there was too much nitrogen in the soil. The grain was falling in the fields. There is supposedly a fertilization plan, but in reality, no office checks it,’ says the village head. At night, farm workers would dump slurry on the fields. It also happens that it spills in the vicinity of farms – because it is not stored properly. And manure sometimes lies fallow in the field for several days.” https://oko.press/smierdzacy-biznes-za-unijne-pieniadze-sledztwo/

-- MAREK KOZUBAL WRITES IN RZ THAT THE COMMOTION AROUND THE COLLECTION STRENGTHENS GLIŃSKI'S ARGUMENTS: “Contrary to appearances, today's commotion around the collection between Tamara and her father, Prince Adam K. Czartoryski, may strengthen Gliński's arguments that control over this collection was inadequate. The mutual accusations within the princely family intensify fears that the situation around the collection was unstable.” http://www.rp.pl/Rzecz-o-polityce/304249927-Zla-atmosfera-wokol-odkupienia-Damy-pozostanie.html

-- BIRTHDAYS: Anna Kalita, Jerzy Widzyk.