HE LOVED CINEMA AND SILESIA - Fakt's front-page story about Kazimierz Kutz. -- TUSK NOW EARNS 140 THOUSAND MONTHLY - SE's front-page story. -- TOMASZ BIELECKI ON THE EARNINGS OF TUSK AND JUNCKER - on the Polityka portal: “Tusk's salary reported by „Bild” is partially taxed and includes, among other things, a housing allowance, but overall it still means well over 20,000 euros net. This is more than the salaries of heads of government in, for example, Germany and the UK, as well as the US President. Furthermore, if Tusk does not find an equally well-paid job after his term ends, he will be paid a “transition salary” for three years, leveling his new income to 60 percent of his current earnings. And after reaching the age of 65, he will receive a pension from the EU amounting to 21 percent of the earnings of the incumbent President of the European Council.” -- BIELECKI ON THE CONTROVERSIES SURROUNDING BRUSSELS EARNINGS: “While there is essentially no serious debate within the EU about the salaries of these top politicians, the remuneration of officials has been under scrutiny for years, especially from Eurosceptics. This, in turn, is met with the defense of their own pockets under - raised by some trade unions - banners of the fight for the Union, integration, and even for the future of Europe. This political trap means that discussions about salaries sometimes become a kind of taboo among supporters of the Union, or at least a topic that is generally not appropriate to discuss.” https://polityka.pl/tygodnikpolityka/swiat/1776100,1,ile-zarabia-donald-tusk-i-dlaczego-tak-duzo.read -- PIS CONSIDERS ELECTIONS IN SPRING - AGATA KONDZIŃSKA AND DOMINIKA WIELOWIEJSKA ON GW'S FRONT PAGE: “Ziobro's supporters argue that it is necessary to get ahead of the May European Parliament elections, as they will be the most difficult for the ruling camp and may initiate a decline in polls. – They explain it like this: let's have national elections first, then European affairs and a possible Polexit will move to the background – says our source from the United Right. – Ziobro's people fear that in March the EU Court of Justice will dismantle the rest of their judicial reforms. They calculate that after four years, everyone will ask about Ziobro's balance sheet, and a catastrophe will emerge. There is one more thing: they hope that after winning early elections, Morawiecki, with whom Ziobro is fiercely fighting for influence, will no longer be Prime Minister.” -- GW AUTHORS WRITE THAT KUKIZ IS PLAYING WITH ZIOBRO: “Paweł Kukiz, with whom Ziobro is allied, is said to enter the game. And it would be he, as a potential coalition partner for PiS, who would set an ultimatum regarding the Prime Minister: a joint government, yes, but without Morawiecki.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,24291666,pis-rozwaza-przyspieszone-wybory-na-wiosne.html -- PIS CHAIRMAN DOES NOT WANT ELECTRICITY PRICE HIKE, GOVERNMENT SEEKS A SOLUTION - Tomasz Żółciak and Karolina Baca-Pogorzelska in DGP: “– There have been unofficial feelers and attempts to talk with the Ministry of Finance about reducing excise duty or VAT on electricity. However, there is no consent from the ministry or political acceptance. The budget draft for 2019 is already in the Sejm, and besides, the revenue shortfall would be problematic – says our informant from the entourage of the head of the Ministry of Finance, Teresa Czerwińska. In response to DGP's questions, the Ministry of Finance informs that it has not yet received a project from the Ministry of Energy.” http://warszawa.wyborcza.pl/warszawa/7,54420,24291820,chaos-w-ratuszu-trzaskowski-niczym-hamlet.html -- PUBLICATION OF THE AMBER GOLD COMMISSION REPORT SUSPENDED - NEW MATERIALS OR FUEL FOR ELECTIONS? - Grażyna Zawadka and Izabela Kacprzak in RZ: “– Perhaps during the formulation of the report's content, MPs will want to summon someone for questioning. The discussion is ongoing – says MP Krajewski. Such a person could be attorney Łukasz D., a close associate of Marcin P., the pyramid's chairman, who in November faced charges of money laundering from the company. The commission failed to question D. – the attorney invoked attorney-client privilege. The Court of Appeal in Warsaw will decide whether he had the right to refuse to testify.” https://rp.pl/Amber-Gold/312189921-Komisja-Amber-Gold---kiedy-poznamy-raport.html -- IT'S NOT ABOUT FINDING ANYTHING - ZUZANNA DĄBROWSKA IN RZ ON THE AMBER GOLD COMMISSION: “What is known is that the end of one term means the beginning of a new one, and between them – elections. Perhaps early elections, as has been said for some time at Nowogrodzka. If the report is written at the last minute and its vote takes place, for example, during the Sejm's last session – Civic Platform will not have enough time to prepare precisely. There is no doubt that Małgorzata Wassermann knows perfectly well how important the time needed for the accused to defend themselves is. Moreover, this situation may turn out to be not very favorable for PiS. Because if the document was not presented on time, it may be because it was necessary to persistently search to find something.” https://rp.pl/Amber-Gold/312189921-Komisja-Amber-Gold---kiedy-poznamy-raport.html -- PLATFORMA CHANGES ITS MIND AGAIN - Robert Biskupski in RZ: “The capital's city hall is hastily withdrawing its discount reduction for the transformation of usufruct rights into ownership rights.” https://www.rp.pl/Warszawa/312189919-Bonifikaty-Platforma-znow-zmienia-zdanie.html -- CHAOS IN THE CITY HALL, TRZASKOWSKI LIKE HAMLET - Michał Wojtczuk in Gazeta Stołeczna: “Regarding discounts, Rafał Trzaskowski has shown greater wavering than the Danish prince who could not decide: to be or not to be. What a dreadful start for the Mayor of Warsaw's term. Mayor Trzaskowski has compromised his closest associates, harmed his party, angered the people of Warsaw, and distracted attention from a week of news fatal to PiS, topped by the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, signing the law reversing changes to the Supreme Court.” -- THIS IS POLITICAL AMATEURISM - WOJTczUK FURTHER ON WARSAW: “This is political amateurism. Does the Mayor of Warsaw listen to the voice of Warsaw residents? Great, but for the future, let him listen to them before, not after, making decisions on matters worth hundreds of millions of zlotys. Incidentally: I cannot imagine that at Thursday's city council session, Mayor Trzaskowski will not make a clear declaration of where he will get several hundred million zlotys for the fight against smog and the construction of nurseries. Since we are revoking the discount reduction, the mayor must present another source of funding for these priorities.” http://warszawa.wyborcza.pl/warszawa/7,54420,24291820,chaos-w-ratuszu-trzaskowski-niczym-hamlet.html -- MICHAŁ KARNOWSKI, USING WARSAW AS AN EXAMPLE, WRITES THAT “PIS IS THE GUARANTOR OF DECENT GOVERNANCE”: “And I think everything would have gone as easily as the theft of a tenement house and the eviction of its residents during the reign of Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, if not for the reaction of Law and Justice politicians. Chairman Jarosław Kaczyński denounced this electoral fraud, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki ordered the Mazovian Voivode to check the resolution, and Voivode Zdzisław Sipiera, known for his effective action, got to work. Warsaw PiS councilors launched a major campaign. The matter became a real, tangible proof of the difference between the formation of change, keeping its word, and cynical machinations in the style of changing the retirement age during Donald Tusk's government. This painful lesson for the people of Warsaw echoed widely across the country and became further proof of the thesis that Law and Justice is the guarantor of decent governance in Poland.” https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/426186-to-pis-jest-gwarantem-przyzwoitosci-wladzy-w-polsce -- IN TIMES OF TROUBLE, EUROPEAN CLOAKS APPEAR - ADAM SZOSTKIEWICZ: “Can you believe it? Now they've shed their national attire for European cloaks. Poland's PiS as the beating heart of Europe. This is a propaganda flop of three years. (...) For three years, the people of the United Right have publicly told so many lies and indignities about the EU that it is clear that if PiS and its affiliates remain in power, no pro-European actions will follow their pro-European declarations.” -- THE DEVIL DRESSED HIMSELF IN THE UNION - Agnieszka Kublik: “And now they are all wrapping themselves in this “rag” and want to parade like this until the European elections, i.e., until spring. Not after, because before the autumn parliamentary elections, one cannot demobilize their own anti-EU oriented voters. So I don't believe in this European enthusiasm of Kaczyński, Morawiecki, or Szydło. I will believe it when TVP Chairman Jacek Kurski orders the presenters of “Wiadomości” to wear turtlenecks with the inscription "CONSTITUTION" and appear against the backdrop of the EU flag.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,24291003,diabel-sie-w-unie-ubral-polityka-telewizyjna.html -- ANDRZEJ STANKIEWICZ IN AN INTERVIEW WITH NEWSWEEK TALKS ABOUT THE BACKGROUND OF THE PUBLICATION OF A NOTE ON TROUBLESOME RELATIONS WITH THE USA: “We were attacked very brutally. The government's first version was that these documents don't exist at all, that we invented them, and they demanded that we show them. We didn't do this to protect our sources. Secret documents can have individual characteristics. If a copy is revealed, the services will determine whose copy leaked. And from there, it's a short step to identifying and punishing the journalists' informants. There's no question of us putting our sources in trouble. That's why we took this attack upon ourselves.” -- WILL THE REVOLUTION CONTINUE OR BE REVERSED - STANKIEWICZ FURTHER: “This coming year will indeed be special because it will decide whether Jarosław Kaczyński's revolution will continue or be reversed. The election campaign has already begun. And if we manage to publish materials from behind the scenes of power, we will certainly be attacked and categorized into some political camp. And there is a group of journalists in Poland who are doing their job and are not involved in political disputes.” https://newsweek.pl/wideo/ci-sami-politycy-ktorzy-nieoficjalnie-potwierdzali-istnienie-dokumentow-potem-szli-na/721btcs -- BIRTHDAYS: Zbigniew Hołdys, Katarzyna Kasperczyk, Jan Łączny, Jarosław Charłampowicz, Paweł Wiśniewski, Michał Giersz.