-- KRZYSZTOF ŁAPIŃSKI TURNS 40, JACEK WOJCIECHOWICZ TURNS 55.

-- SCHETYNA PROPOSED SUPPORTING THE STRONGEST, BUT THEY DIDN'T SUPPORT BIEDROŃ IN SŁUPSK - CZARZASTY - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2018/06/26/

-- KONRAD PIASECKI ON SYMMETRYSM - in conversation with Karolina Wigura and Jakub Bodziony in Kultura Liberalna: “The public expects simple and understandable classifications, which is why the difficult-to-define and categorize label of “symmetrical journalists” annoys everyone. The viewer, listener, or reader feels more comfortable knowing what to expect from someone. This is also facilitated by dividing public life into two warring spheres that appeal for unity within their ranks. If someone deviates from this rank, questions the need to adhere to one of the two prevailing messages, they begin to be seen as a black sheep – it irritates and causes cognitive dissonance.

-- I RUBBED MY EYES IN AMAZEMENT AT HOW ŚPIEWAK WAS DISCREDITED - WIGURA'S QUESTION ABOUT ŚPIEWAK: Lately, I've also rubbed my eyes in amazement at how Jan Śpiewak was discredited and demonized, who consistently remains critical of both PiS and PO. Is this connected to a generational issue?

-- PIASECKI ON WIGURA'S QUESTION ABOUT ŚPIEWAK'S DISCREDITATION: “Śpiewak is one of those figures who elude simple schemes, but in my opinion, it's not a generational issue. He is a problem for many because they cannot categorize him into a specific camp. On one hand, he winked at Kukiz, who is indigestible for a large part of the opposition, and due to his role in the reprivatization scandal, he is associated with Jaki. On the other hand, he doesn't sing praises for PiS, and due to his surname and roots, he is associated with the liberal side. He is a political puzzle and an unknown quantity that causes unease. Many would like to ask him: Who are you, Mr. Śpiewak?”

-- ŚPIEWAK COULD REPEAT KUKIZ'S CASE AND INTRODUCE A DIFFERENT NARRATIVE TO THE ELECTIONS - says Piasecki: “Because he seems to be the one who not only steps out of the solid ranks but might cause the most disruption in the elections. He is a threat to both PiS and PO, though perhaps a greater one to Trzaskowski. Śpiewak could repeat Paweł Kukiz's case from the presidential elections – introduce a different narrative into the campaign, destabilize moods, and make these elections more unpredictable.”

-- WIGURA ON TRZASKOWSKI: HE EMBODIES THE STEREOTYPE OF WARSAW'S INTELLECTUALS IN THE WORST POSSIBLE WAY: “So far, he has managed to present himself as someone who negatively fulfills voters' potential assumptions about him. Since he is an intellectual and has noble origins, he unfortunately embodies the stereotype of Warsaw's intellectual elite, reluctant towards people other than those who constitute it, in the worst possible way.”

-- PIASECKI ON BIEDROŃ'S POLITICAL SPELLS AND THE BELIEF THAT BEING LIKEABLE IS ENOUGH TO WIN OVER THE ELECTORATE: “A potential new political force also lacks a good slogan, a battle cry. When I hear Robert Biedroń and his political spells… A smile and being likeable are not enough to win over the electorate, for which the two largest parties are constantly fighting, appealing for consolidation of forces.

https://kulturaliberalna.pl/2018/06/26/piasecki-dziennikarstwo-symetryzm-wywiad-wigura-bodziony/

-- IN THEIR ANACHRONISM, PIS IS MORE MODERN THAN THE OPPOSITION - Grzegorz Sroczyński in conversation with Karolina Wigura and Jakub Bodziony (jointly with Rafał Woś): “When people in Poland hear from liberals that they will improve things, they know it means cuts. That's how liberals have raised their voters. PiS, in its entire anachronism, is paradoxically more modern than today's opposition because they manage to connect with contemporary moods and social problems that the government intuitively senses. Articles like mine about Morawiecki are meant to show people opposed to PiS that their sensitivity is quite distant from the current one – shaped by capitalism and the internet revolution. And that if one were to listen to Morawiecki through the ears of the so-called average Pole, his arguments resonate – and are not as foolish as we think.”

-- PAPER MEDIA ARE IN TOTAL PANIC, TRYING TO IMITATE THE INTERNET - SROCZYŃSKI CONTINUES: “Newspaper editors are calling: ‘buy seven copies of Gazeta Polska’ or ‘buy three subscriptions’ to defend Poland from the influx of immigrants or the end of democracy. Paper media are in total panic, trying to imitate the internet and be ‘hot’ and ‘identity-based,’ unfortunately, they don't realize that in the meantime, this business model has become deeply anachronistic, and online portals are already moving away from explicitly identity-based content towards greater factualness. People don't want identity from the media because they can find that on Pipsztycki's blog or in another online niche.”

-- RAFAŁ WOŚ IN THE SAME INTERVIEW IN KULTURA LIBERALNA: PO-PIS IS LIKE FACTIONS IN THE PZPR: “It's impossible to build a symmetry agenda. In my opinion, symmetrists can be compared to the early Solidarity stage. That is, it's a kind of broad resistance movement against single-party rule – and in this case, the PO-PiS duopoly. Symmetry, on a similar principle, opposes the duopoly, the PO-PiS elites, which can be compared to different factions within the PZPR. Natolin vs. Puławy. Moczar's followers versus liberals. All of that has happened before. Rebellions have also occurred. Symmetrists are precisely the new rebellion.”

-- SROCZYŃSKI SAYS THAT THE PLATFORMA OF KOPACZ AND SZCZUREK WAS MORE OPEN TO INEQUALITIES THAN SCHETYNA AND RZOŃCA'S PO: “Ewa Kopacz and Mateusz Szczurek's Platform was heavenward more pragmatic and open to challenges related to economic inequality and resource redistribution. Grzegorz Schetyna and Andrzej Rzońca's Platform has abandoned these topics. And with them, it has lost contact with the fundamental problems of Polish society.”

-- THE LEFT THAT LECTURES PEOPLE ABOUT IMMIGRANTS IS DOOMED TO FAILURE - SROCZYŃSKI: “When tackling the issue of migrants, the left that lectures people and says their fears about foreigners are stupid is doomed to failure. In a way, the left then ceases to be the left. It doesn't consider that its base – the lower-middle class – has some fears that are not unfounded. Professors who go on the media and glorify an open society haven't lost out from labor immigration. Journalists who handed microphones to these professors haven't lost out. However, a construction worker in Southampton earns half the daily wage compared to before Polish emigrants arrived.”

-- UNDER PIS RULE, THE DOORS FOR FOREIGN WORKERS HAVE NEVER BEEN OPEN SO WIDE IN THE HISTORY OF POLAND - RAFAŁ WOŚ: “This issue needs to be thoroughly reconsidered. Talking about Jarosław Kaczyński opposing the wave of migrants is detached from reality. His party has been in power for three years, and the doors for foreign workers have never been opened so wide in Poland's history. First, it was workers from Ukraine, now a new wave is coming – even cheaper and more disposable – 20,000 people from Nepal and Bangladesh. Employers are already saying they would accept 200,000, and Morawiecki's team is working on solutions in this regard!” https://kulturaliberalna.pl/2018/06/26/sroczynski-wos-symetryzm-dziennikarstwo-wywiad-wigura/

-- THE LIBERAL OPPOSITION IS FULL OF PURE HYPOCRISY - TOMASZ WALCZAK in SE: “Political expediency, not logic, reigns in the pronouncements of the liberal opposition. On the one hand, they deny the left the right to its own candidate, and on the other, they field their own contender against their person. Pure hypocrisy, which exposes the entire narrative of a broad anti-PiS coalition. Leaving aside maliciousness, however, PO and Nowoczesna have the same democratic right to nominate a candidate in Słupsk as the left has in Warsaw. I hope the liberals have finally understood this.” https://www.se.pl/wiadomosci/polityka/tomasz-walczak-komentuje-liberalowie-razem-ale-osobno-aa-iWJU-b79N-ZRoi.html

-- WE WILL NOT PAY HOMAGE TO MR. SCHETYNA - SAYS ADRIAN ZANDBERG in SE: “- For me, democracy is very important. And democracy is precisely the right to choose. That's what the two rounds are for – so that one can choose from many candidates the one who is closest to us. However, if the Platform on one day blackmails everyone to pay feudal homage to Schetyna, and the next day runs against Biedroń in Słupsk – then it is, of course, hypocrisy. In any case, we will not pay homage to Mr. Schetyna.”

-- ZANDBERG ON THE THIRD FORCE IN THE CAPITAL: “- The Razem party, along with its allies, is the third force in the capital today. We will fight to get into the second round. I believe that Warsaw residents will not face a bad choice: Trzaskowski or Jaki. It's high time to end the POPiS blackmail.” https://www.se.pl/wiadomosci/polityka/adrian-zandberg-komentuje-nie-zlozymy-holdu-schetynie-aa-mwoC-1cnN-Y57W.html

-- COMPROMISING EPISODES DEPRIVE EU MEMBER STATES OF THE RIGHT TO TAKE ON THE ROLE OF A GUARDIAN OF VALUES - Zbigniew Parafianowicz in DGP: “The problem, however, is that a whole host of countries that will take on the role of reviewer have their own skeletons in the closet. Compromising episodes that deprive them of the right to assume the position of guardian of EU values.”

-- PARAFIANOWICZ ON HYPOCRISY, E.G., OF LUXEMBOURG: “However, this should not be surprising when the head of the European Commission and, at the same time, the former prime minister of another reviewing country, is the main protagonist of the Luxleaks affair. Jean-Claude Juncker ran a country that still positions itself as a single large tax optimization office and a safe haven for capital of dubious origin. Luxembourg blocked pan-European regulations making tax avoidance more difficult for years. The question of whether tax dumping, which demoralizes Europe and is unfair, is less or more harmful than the pacification of the Constitutional Tribunal, remains open.” http://www.gazetaprawna.pl/artykuly/1150373,parafianowicz-o-sporze-ke-i-polski-ws-praworzadnosci.html

-- THE COUNCIL IS BETTER THAN THE COMMISSION - Grzegorz Osiecki in DGP: “In turn, the government hopes that even with the Commission's involvement, the proceedings regarding Article 7 in the Council will be better than the current duel between Warsaw and Brussels. – It is important whether the Council will hide behind what the Commission has done, or whether it will want to base its decisions on its own observations. We will directly convey the arguments made to the Commission to the member states – assures a person associated with the government. During the presentation, the Polish side intends not only to respond to the EC's accusations but also to challenge its arguments and point out inaccuracies.” http://www.dziennik.pl/amp/576962,rzad-komisja-europejska-wysluchanie-polska-artykul-7.html

-- GAZETA WYBORCZA ON THE BEHIND-THE-SCENES MANEUVERS OF POLISH DIPLOMACY - as Tomasz Bielecki writes: “Among the countries supporting a swift hearing was Latvia, on whose 'loyalty' Poland was counting. It ended with a protest by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Latvian ambassador in Warsaw. According to our information, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also held a preliminary conversation with the Lithuanian ambassador. As a result, when Poland made a second attempt to postpone the hearing last week, the Latvian representative no longer spoke. But her place in the group of 14 ambassadors supporting the hearing was immediately taken by a Slovenian.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75399,23594444,polska-odpowie-dzis-na-pytania-unii-o-panstwo-prawa.html

-- CAN KACZYŃSKI AND SCHETYNA BE OUTMANEUVERED? - Agnieszka Burzyńska in Fakt on Sutryk in Wrocław: “An unknown official versus well-known politicians supported by major parties. What are the chances of defeating the party machine in local government elections? In Wrocław, Jacek Sutryk (40), a city hall official, is proving that it is possible to compete with strong party nominees. In Warsaw, independent candidates are doing much worse.” https://www.fakt.pl/wydarzenia/polityka/urzednik-ratusza-jakub-sutryk-chce-byc-prezydentem-wroclawia/2wh1p6f

-- MAZUREK AND TERLECKI DIDN'T GET DIRECTIVES, SO THEY PREFERRED TO CANCEL THE TRIP - Andrzej Stankiewicz in Tygodnik Powszechny: “So, was the cancellation of the summit the will of President Kaczyński, a known admirer of Germany, returning from the hospital? It is more likely that Mazurek and Terlecki did not receive directives from Nowogrodzka, but preferred to cancel the trip to avoid incurring Kaczyński's displeasure. The president once got angry at Prime Minister Szydło for taking half the government to consultations with Germany in June 2016. Another thing is that he himself met with Angela Merkel in secret shortly thereafter. It is in such an atmosphere that policy towards Poland's key neighbor is forged.” https://www.tygodnikpowszechny.pl/bundestag-dostal-kosza-od-pis-153558

-- EWA SIEDLECKA MOCKS THE JUDGE RULING IN SIKORSKI V. KACZYŃSKI: “Judge Ogińska-Łagiewka's verdict reminded me of another verdict from the late 90s or early 2000s. It concerned the 'Samoobrona' protests, involving road blockades by farmers. At one point, they began to paralyze traffic in Poland. And their organizer, Andrzej Lepper, faced courts, accused of creating road hazards and organizing illegal strikes. And in one of these cases, he was acquitted with the justification that the demands of 'Samoobrona' were supported by a large part of society – the court referred to public opinion polls. According to the mentioned CBOS poll, 43% of voters support the PiS party. Therefore, the PiS president can lie as much as he wants.” https://www.polityka.pl/tygodnikpolityka/kraj/1753732,1,co-wolno-prezesowi-pis-zapadl-wyrok-ws-wytoczonej-przez-sikorskiego.read

-- BIRTHDAYS: Alicja Zając, Krzysztof Łapiński, Nelli Rokita, Paweł Wojtunik, Zbigniew Rybka, Jacek Wojciechowicz, Krzysztof Ziemiec, Aleksandra Klimont, Ilona Antoniszyn-Klik, Natalia Radulska.