--“A European, co-creator of democratic Poland, a man with imagination and a sense of humor” - wrote Ewa Milewicz in an obituary published in Gazeta Stołeczna, 10 years after the tragic death of the professor (he died on July 13, 2008).

-- GOOGLE TO ORGANIZE TRAINING FOR CANDIDATES ON INTERNET CAMPAIGNS AND SECURITY: “In September and October, Google is organizing a special edition of free training sessions in 16 Polish cities on conducting online campaigns and online security, this time for candidates running in the upcoming local elections.” https://events.withgoogle.com/internetowe-szkolenia/

-- ACCORDING TO HOFMAN, MORAWIECKI GAINS WHEN HE SPEAKS A LANGUAGE UNDERSTANDABLE TO PEOPLE - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2018/09/19/

-- GRZEGORZ SCHETYNA AS A BUTTERFLY ON THE COVER OF POLITYKA MAGAZINE.

-- MARCIN ANASZEWICZ, CLOSE COLLABORATOR OF BIEDROŃ, TALKS ABOUT THE "ROUTE OF 40 MEETINGS" - in an interview with Liberte: “Over the next few weeks, we will be implementing something we call the 'Route of 40,' meaning 40 meetings across Poland aimed at involving people in creating our initiative. We are completely against program writing in back rooms. In Poland, it has traditionally been the case that political programs were brought in a briefcase or commissioned to consulting firms. We dream of a project created with people, placing their issues and problems at the center. The cities we've chosen for this route are typically centers with populations of 50-100 thousand inhabitants, meaning places that are consistently overlooked in public debate. Today, politics in Poland is concentrated mainly in Warsaw and large urban centers, and doesn't reach places like Sieradz, Kalisz, Ostrów, or Radomsko. (...) At the end of the year, we will summarize the route, and in December and January, our experts will begin finalizing the program, which we will present in February at a major program convention.”

-- TUSK WIDELY OPENED THE DOOR FOR POPULISTS: “One might get the impression that Donald Tusk focused solely on highways and stadiums instead of equalizing opportunities and good governance, thereby widely opening the door for populists.”

-- PLATFORMA IS NOT THE LOCOMOTIVE, SCHETYNA IS NOT THE LEADER - SAYS ANASZEWICZ IN LIBERTE: “At the same time, we believe, as confirmed by polls, that the problem today is not that some political projects do not want to join Civic Coalition, but rather that there is no single opposition party that is a locomotive capable of removing PiS from power. Because if that were the case, the situation in the polls would have changed 2-3 years ago. Civic Platform would have gained in the polls, and PiS would have lost support. And it is the exact opposite. We have been discussing the concept of a single opposition for nearly 3 years. Polls show that PO and Grzegorz Schetyna have a hard ceiling above them that they cannot break. Many voters will no longer vote for PO, which does not share their liberal values. It has failed them because, at the very beginning of its path, it presented a dream of a different Poland – liberal, progressive, modern. However, it offered only a conservative and partisan view of the state. Simultaneously, where we are in 2018 is the result of PO not solving many social problems, which became fodder for populists, and not preparing the state for the erosion of democratic institutions. The 'warm water in the tap' policy meant that state structures, legal regulations, and society were not ready for the emergence of 'barbarians'. Anyone analyzing the political scene can see that today Grzegorz Schetyna is not a leader who can present a new vision for Poland, a plan to repair the state, and ignite the imagination and engage large groups of new voters.”

-- NOWACKA HAS CAPITULATED, IT IS A CAPITULATION OF VALUES - CONTINUES ANASZEWICZ: “In this context, it is sad that Barbara Nowacka has practically capitulated and decided to support PO. This is a capitulation of values, because PO embodies everything that Nowacka has tried to fight against in recent years. The entire area of women's rights has been exceptionally neglected by this party. We know that for years PO promised Polish women new solutions and instruments to equalize their opportunities, and then failed to keep its word. I remember how much was said about effectively combating violence against women. And then Platform kept the Istanbul Convention in the freezer for years. It was only after 7 years that PO introduced the in vitro law, which turned out to be a legal mess and an exceptionally conservative regulation that harmed many women.”

-- NOWACKA ADMITTED THAT SHE IS UNABLE TO CREATE A NEW INITIATIVE ALONE - CONTINUES ANASZEWICZ IN LIBERTE: “These are all things that Barbara Nowacka fought against with PO, and now she has been forced to endorse this party's actions and stand behind its omissions regarding women with her name. I am sorry that this happened to her, because I respect her views and know how much she tried to do for women in Poland. Her joining PO is also her capitulation as a leader, because in this way, after several years of failed attempts, she admitted that she is unable to create a new political initiative on her own.” https://liberte.pl/marcin-anaszewicz-w-centrum-filozofii-roberta-biedronia-jest-czlowiek-a-nie-struktury-i-instytucje/

-- YOU ARE JOINTLY PAVING THE WAY FOR ANTI-IMMIGRANT RADICALS AROUND BOSAK - PIOTR TRUDNOWSKI FROM THE JAGIELLONIAN CLUB: “A single symbolic resignation will not build the government's credibility with this group if it is not followed by other decisions. Will work on Poland's Migration Policy be abandoned? Will a new version of the SOR (State Emergency Plan) be adopted, excluding actions in this direction? Will the observed increase in immigrants be blocked? Until this happens – or until the government starts discussing this with Poles openly – nationalists will have a convenient argument to differentiate themselves from the government and accuse PiS of hypocrisy. Therefore, by seeking to counter PiS 'from the right,' it is de facto cultivating voters for a more pronounced 'anti-immigrant option.'” https://klubjagiellonski.pl/2018/09/18/wspolnie-torujecie-droge-antyimigranckim-radykalom-wokol-chorazego-i-bosaka/

-- POLEXIT MAY OCCUR SPONTANEOUSLY AND NATURALLY, WHO SOWS THE WIND REAPS THE WHIRLWIND - Tomasz Sawczuk in Kultura Liberalna: “In such conditions, Polexit may occur spontaneously and naturally. PiS believes that the opposition and Brussels are a foreign party playing on the same team, plotting against Poland. The escalating political conflict, coupled with the progressive delegitimization of EU institutions and some accidental crisis, could lead to a situation where leaving the EU begins to look like a sensible solution, another step towards defending the 'Polish interest.' It cannot be ruled out that public opinion, by then accustomed to the idea of Polexit, will be ready for such an option. He who sows the wind reaps the whirlwind.” https://kulturaliberalna.pl/2018/09/19/sawczuk-pis-ue-polexit/

-- RAFAŁ MATYJA ON ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PARAMETERS - tells Michał Wilgocki in Gazeta Wyborcza: “For me, one of the most interesting parameters will be the number of mayors from outside PO and PiS. Especially the new ones. We will then learn how people perceive this conflict: whether they find themselves in it, or if they are fed up with it.”

-- SLD FACES THE BIGGEST TEST - CONTINUES MATYJA IN GW: “Apart from the three parties – because the result of PSL is also extremely important – for all committees, these elections are about marking any presence on the political scene. SLD faces the biggest test. A good double-digit result will help it rebound in relations with Razem or Biedroń. This would strengthen its position on the left.”

-- MATYJA WOULD ASK A FORTUNE TELLER ABOUT PSL'S RESULT: “If it achieves a very good nationwide result again and becomes a coalition force helping PO govern, it will survive. Something unpleasant might even happen to the Peasants in the European elections, and they will survive, but a defeat in the regional assemblies would be a catastrophe. I would even risk the thesis that these elections are more important than parliamentary ones, because they would perish more quickly without regional councilors than without MPs. If I could ask a fortune teller to reveal one result, I would ask specifically about PSL.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,23937397,sld-chce-pokazac-ze-jest-numerem-1-psl-walczy-o-zycie-a-zwykly.html

-- SLD WANTS AN "ISOLATION" OPERATION AGAINST PiS - Iwona Szpala in GW: “The opposition is to declare that in the second round of voting for city mayors, it will support candidates from competing parties, and after the local elections, it will isolate PiS – this is SLD's idea. What does Civic Coalition have to say to this? – Let Czarzasty stop making declarations.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,23937416,sld-chce-akcji-izolacja-wobec-pis-ale-koalicja-obywatelska.html

-- WILL PIS RECLAIM ONLY TWO REGIONAL ASSEMBLIES? - FACT POLL: “After October 21, PiS will almost certainly govern not in one regional assembly (Podkarpackie), but in three. According to a simulation of mandate distribution based on the latest IBRIS poll for Fakt, this will also include Świętokrzyskie and Małopolskie. – This is the minimum plan, though we dream of seven – admits an important PiS politician to us.” https://www.fakt.pl/wydarzenia/polityka/sondaz-ibris-pis-odbije-tylko-2-sejmiki/5wz7fd2

-- MORAWIECKI OUTPERFORMS SCHETYNA: 6 BILLION FOR LOCAL ROADS - Fakt.

-- THEY LIE AND HARM POLAND - ELŻBIETA BIEŃKOWSKA in GW: “The Prime Minister opens roads whose construction began under the PO-PSL government, but accuses his predecessors of building nothing. The President talks about an 'imaginary community' in Leżajsk, even though the EU financed roads and sewage systems there, and even provided 26 million PLN for a monastery. Such disregard for the truth harms Poland because it weakens our position in negotiations on the future EU budget: after all, if they built nothing, they are not worth giving money to.”

-- I HELD BACK FROM DIRECT POLEMICS WITH THE CURRENT AUTHORITIES FOR A LONG TIME - CONTINUES BIEŃKOWSKA: “I refrained from direct polemics with the current authorities for a long time, but as someone who directly dealt with the implementation of projects funded by European funds for many years, and now as an EU commissioner sees the reactions in Europe up close, I can no longer remain silent. Even Beata Szydło, as head of government, boasted without hesitation that PiS 'achieved in two years what was not achieved in 30 years.' But what was an occasional – though too frequent, but not daily – grotesque under Szydło has become a propaganda norm for the PiS government under Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.”

-- BIEŃKOWSKA ASKS WHAT NEGOTIATING POSITION THE POLISH GOVERNMENT WILL HAVE: “What position will Poland, led by Prime Minister Morawiecki and President Duda, have in the negotiations for the EU budget for the 2021-27 period? How will it convince the public opinion of other EU countries that EU taxpayers should continue to invest heavily in the development of a lagging neighbor? What arguments will it find to convince the 'imaginary community' to further large investments in infrastructure, rural areas, and universities? And a budgetary defeat will not be masked by new tales. It will be a lack of concrete money for concrete Polish investments.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,23937342,czy-wart-dawac-pieniadze-polsce-skoro-polskie-rzady-nic-nie.html

-- TRUMP CASTS HIS EYE ON POLAND - headline in Rzeczpospolita.

-- THINGS ARE MOVING FORWARD - Jędrzej Bielecki in Rzeczpospolita: “There will be no decision on bases and sanctions for the gas pipeline. But things are moving forward.” https://www.rp.pl/Prezydent--USA/309189900-Donald-Trump-zerka-na-Polske.html

-- DUDA DREAMS OF FORT TRUMP - headline in GW.

-- IT WILL HAPPEN AT THE COST OF ANTAGONIZING GERMANY - Paweł Wroński in GW: “Presumably, the philosophy – let's pay for the construction of an American base in Poland – is a consequence of this discussion. However, this means that the relocation of American forces to Poland will come at the cost of antagonizing an important military ally, namely Germany. A country with which we had close cooperation with ground forces just a few years ago. Since we are approaching our Western ally in this way, others may also calculate. Poland? Let the Americans deal with it.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,23939185,widzenie-z-palisady-fortu-trump.html

-- ADAM LESZCZYŃSKI ON TRUMP HAVING OTHER WORRIES - writes in OKO: “The Trump administration is drowning in scandals: a few days ago, Bob Woodward's book 'Fear' was released, based on hundreds of hours of interviews with former and current White House employees, portraying the president as a semi-idiot who cannot concentrate for more than three minutes, lies constantly, and is completely devoid of moral principles. So, Trump has completely different worries than building 'Fort Trump' in Poland, even if Warsaw were willing to pay for it entirely and build a monument to the American president in the main square.” https://oko.press/duda-w-waszyngtonie-obiecal-fort-trump-ale-wraca-bez-wiz-i-wojska/

-- ANDRZEJ SZOSTKIEWICZ QUESTIONS SOLICITING AMERICAN GAS AT THE EXPENSE OF RUSSIAN GAS - on the Polityka portal: “Wise Polish diplomacy would avoid soliciting expensive American liquefied gas at the cost of antagonizing our country with Germany, Poland's largest trading partner. The Polish president would not joke that he would like the permanent American base in Poland to be called Fort Trump, because such a joke, in the current tense international situation, is unbecoming of a European statesman. Wise advisors to the Polish president would warn him that it is uncertain whether Trump will last his term, and his declarations may prove to be worth a pound of flesh.” https://szostkiewicz.blog.polityka.pl/2018/09/18/prezydent-duda-nie-bronil-przed-trumpem-unii-europejskiej/?nocheck=1

-- TOMASZ BIELECKI ON WHETHER THE CJEU RULING WILL BE CONSIDERED FINAL BY POLAND - on the Polityka portal: “Many EU countries have clearly defined the supremacy of their constitutions over EU treaties. And the German Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe even reminded of the primacy of German 'constitutional identity' over Union law a few years ago in its preliminary ruling concerning the ECB's monetary policy (during the EU crisis). However, there was no open confrontation of legal systems, which a Polish-EU conflict over whether the CJEU has the right to assess changes in the Polish judiciary would threaten. The only achievable sanction for Poland under Article 7, i.e., the adoption of a Council of the EU declaration on a 'clear risk of a serious breach' of fundamental values, would be nothing compared to the nightmarish and unpredictable storm that Szymański did not want to extinguish beforehand (and was likely not authorized to do so) with a short sentence stating that CJEU rulings would remain final for Poland.” https://www.polityka.pl/tygodnikpolityka/swiat/1764406,1,czy-polska-bedzie-wypelniac-wyroki-tsue.read

-- BEHIND THE SCENES OF PIS TALKS WITH BRUSSELS in GW (Kondzińska, Bielecki, Wieliński): “A PiS politician is calm: – Whatever changes are made in the judiciary, they cannot be reversed. However, a Polish diplomat warns. – We have placed a glass on the edge of the table. We say we don't want to break it, but we are making dangerous gestures around it. It can fall by accident – he says. He recalls that this is how it was in Great Britain with the Brexit referendum.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75399,23936576,ujawniamy-kulisy-negocjacji-rzadu-pis-z-komisja-europejska.html

-- SOCIOLOGIST PAWEŁ MATUSZEWSKI IN NEWSWEEK ON BIEDROŃ'S CHANCES: “Both poll data and social media data indicate that Robert Biedroń has the potential to get into the Sejm next year. Whether and how this potential will be utilized is a completely different matter. The political test will be the European Parliament elections, where it will become clear how effective this initiative is, and his goals will be verified if he decides to run. It should also be remembered that his current approximately 8% support comes mainly from a credit of trust and hope. Not enough time has passed to talk about a solid electorate. In other words, such a result can be achieved as a new group and then easily lost. We have seen examples of this with the Nowoczesna party, and even earlier with the Palikot Movement. However, 17 years ago, PiS also started from such support.” http://newsweek.pl/polska/polityka/czy-robert-biedron-odmieni-polska-polityke-,artykuly,433061,1.html

-- MARCIN FIJOŁEK WRITES THAT POLAND SHOULD ALREADY BE ACTING REGARDING THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR II NEXT YEAR: “However, I urge that we should already be considering – and acting upon – the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II, which is next year. The round anniversary could, and should, be a good moment to strongly emphasize historical truth and the Polish perspective of those days. Organizing grand celebrations with a number of invited guests from other capitals is an operation requiring great effort and even greater cooperation from many institutions. It will likely be difficult, but the stakes are very high – as in 2009, when at the occasion of the 70th anniversary, President Lech Kaczyński's words resonated strongly in the presence of Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel.” https://wpolityce.pl/m/polityka/412778-polska-powinna-juz-dzialac-ws-80-rocznicy-wybuchu-ii-wojny

-- BIRTHDAYS: Bolesław Piecha, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, Zbigniew Kuźmiuk, Mariusz Błaszczak, Maciej Sitarz.