-- 3 YEARS AGO, GRZEGORZ SCHETYNA BECAME THE LEADER OF PO.

-- ON THIS DAY IN 2012, TUSK'S GOVERNMENT SIGNED THE ACTA TRADE AGREEMENT, WHICH LED TO SOCIAL PROTESTS.

-- PIS STABLY LEADS IN A SURVEY FOR DO RZECZY: If parliamentary elections were held in January, PiS would receive 42.4% support, PO - 31.1%, Kukiz'15 - 8.6%, PSL - 6.8% - according to an Estymator poll for "Do Rzeczy". According to Estymator, the Democratic Left Alliance would get 4.8%, Razem Party - 1.6%, Wolność - 1.4%, Nowoczesna 1.4%, Teraz Party - 0.4%; 1.5% of respondents indicated another party.

-- CLASH OF MESSAGES FROM PIS AND PLATFORMA: https://300polityka.pl/live/2019/01/26/

-- JERZY OWSIAK RESPONDS TO ROBERT BIEDROŃ'S INVITATION TO POLITICS - in an interview with Anita Karwowska in GW: “Thanks, Robert, for noticing the power of non-governmental organizations. Anyone who wants to work effectively for our country, while doing political work, must further notice and appreciate how wonderfully the non-governmental sector supports the state and its citizens. I am a huge proponent of political diversity, because thanks to it, amidst this flood of public tasks, we can find – or at least have a greater chance of finding – the best ways to solve social problems. My foundation and I want to help solve these problems, while remaining independent and unburdened by any ties, obligations, or political arrangements. As you can see, the foundation has been doing wonderfully in this independence for 27 years, and various political options are emerging, have emerged, and will emerge alongside us. And we, Robert and I, simply want to do our own thing.”

-- OWSIAK RESPONDS TO ACCUSATIONS OF PLAYING POLITICS: “I will continue to be Jurek, who says what he thinks from time to time. And then don't try to attack me for playing politics. I speak out on issues that are important to me. If you look at it, every time I have been against boorishness.” http://wyborcza.pl/magazyn/7,124059,24400697,pytamy-owsiaka-panie-jurku-czy-stracil-pan-zludzenia.html

-- THE PRESENCE IN THE EU MAKES PROFOUND SENSE, NOT SOLELY DUE TO THE BALANCE OF PAYMENTS - MARCIN FIJOŁEK QUOTES KONRAD SZYMAŃSKI: “If the Union does not survive the next decade, it will not be because of Warsaw. We see concern about whether the EU makes sense in Paris, The Hague, other capitals – not in Warsaw. From Warsaw's perspective, Poland's presence in the EU makes profound sense, and it's not solely due to the balance of payments. This will pass – Poland will become a country of success on such a scale that these transfers will not be due to us. The sense of EU membership cannot be reduced solely to this – argues Minister Szymański, adding that the positive effect is much greater than the decent-looking numbers regarding direct flow data, because one must remember about economic development based on access to the common market.”

-- SZYMAŃSKI'S CONCLUSION ON THE EU: “There are many unwise and controversial things in the EU, but the common market is something that provides grounds to think that EU membership is an undoubtedly positive fact.”

-- THE FULL INTERVIEW OF FIJOŁEK WITH SZYMAŃSKI ON TV WPOLSCE.PL: https://wpolityce.pl/m/polityka/431097-czekajaca-nas-dyskusja-o-przyszlosci-ue-moze-byc-produktywna

-- MICHAŁ KARNOWSKI ON A BREATH OF NORMALCY AND GOOD POLITICAL LEADERSHIP: “Well, perhaps the time will come for a serious conversation about the media. Today, it must be said that on Friday, for the first time since the Gdańsk tragedy, we experienced a breath of normalcy and good political leadership. By acting in this way, we can try to jointly emerge from this deadlock and anxiety.” https://wpolityce.pl/m/polityka/431215-wreszcie-troche-normalnosci-i-przywodztwa-w-polityce

-- MEETING IN A GOOD ATMOSPHERE, BUT WITHOUT A BREAKTHROUGH - headline on wyborcza.pl: http://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,24400357,po-spotkaniu-premiera-z-opozycja.html

-- ONLY POLLS KEEP POLITICS FROM GOING INSANE - MICHAŁ DANIELEWSKI FROM GW ON FB: “We are used to complaining that polls rule Polish politics. Therefore, I find it a curious paradox that it is only thanks to polls that we still have any politics at all, and not a regular slaughter. It is public opinion surveys that prevent the two main camps from total confrontation. If politicians listened to commentators who are favorable to them and not to polls, on the one hand, we would not have an attempt by PiS to move towards the center, but rather a Polexit referendum on the horizon. On the other hand, PO would not be meeting with Morawiecki today, but would be preparing in full swing for the monthly anniversary of the assassination of President Adamowicz. As strange as it may sound, it is only the will of Poles expressed in polls that prevents the conflict between PiS and PO from descending into complete madness.” https://www.facebook.com/100005925496819/posts/1044176572456516/

-- WŁADYSŁAW KOSINIAK-KAMYSZ ON THE MADNESS OF ACCUSATIONS OF EITHER TREACHERY OR BETRAYAL OF THE DEMOCRATIC CAMP - says in an interview with Piotr Zaremba in DGP: “When I hear from both sides that we should first punish the guilty, I have the feeling that we are heading into a dead end and will never get out of it. Because how can we talk to each other when, after a meeting with President Andrzej Duda, I hear that I am a traitor to the democratic camp, and when I leave Grzegorz Schetyna, I learn that I have joined the Targowica Confederation. This is madness. These radical emotions only serve the interests of PiS and PO.”

-- I DON'T WANT TO DENY MORAWIECKI GOOD WILL - KOSINIAK IN DGP: “In the first phase of their rule, they wanted revenge 'for years of suffering.' Now is the time for strategy. Jarosław Kaczyński is pragmatic enough to hide Antoni Macierewicz and others. This is of course a game, although, for example, I don't want to deny Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki good will.”

-- WE WANT TO BE THE POLISH CSU - KOSINIAK CONTINUES WITH ZAREMBA: “We understood the yellow card from 2015. We represent the countryside, but not necessarily just agriculture. Today, farmers are 10% of rural residents. Moreover, the farmer of today is different from the one 20 years ago. We want to be the Polish CSU. PiS is too broad to be Polish Christian Democracy. It's a bloc from the liberal Gowin to the nationalist Andruszkiewicz.”

-- KOSINIAK SKEPTICAL ABOUT JOINING THE EURO: “We still hear about the problems of the Eurozone, and the poor South demands greater financial transfers. I agree: a common currency is nice, convenient in good times. But when a crisis begins, it's better to have your own currency.”

-- I WOULD EVEN KEEP SOME DEPUTY MINISTERS FROM THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION - KOSINIAK CONTINUES: “I cannot imagine a return to the times before 2015, let alone stepping into PiS's shoes. I don't want a purge; I would even keep some deputy ministers from the current administration. We also don't want to undo everything. We don't like the abolition of junior high schools, but we don't intend to bring them back, to avoid exacerbating the chaos.”

-- PAWEŁ WROŃSKI ON PROPAGANDA HELICOPTERS - writes in GW: “These four helicopters, which are to replace 50, are our 'bear that is within our capabilities' and is meant to 'shut the mouths of doubters.' And to ensure victory in the European Parliament elections for Tomasz Poręba from PiS, whose name was mentioned at the ceremony as often as the Prime Minister's.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,24399492,black-howki-czyli-mis-na-miare-jastrzebia.html#S.-K.P-B.1-L.2.glowka

-- WAWRZYNIEC SMOCZYŃSKI ON PIS WINNING BECAUSE IT OFFERS COMMUNITY - writes in GW: “The identity of PiS is not defined by populism (that is a political method), conservatism (that is a worldview), or authoritarianism (that is a leadership style). The essential quality, because it is felt by the party's voters, is communitarianism. Kaczyński wins elections because he promises a community that the Third Polish Republic did not give Poles. The defining quality of PO is not technocracy, liberalism, or democracy. It is individualism. Schetyna loses elections because his party continues to place the individual and their personal advancement at the center, thereby inadvertently disavowing community.”

-- KACZYŃSKI, AN AUTHORITARIAN COMMUNUNITARIAN - SMOCZYŃSKI CONTINUES: “Kaczyński is an authoritarian-conservative communitarian. He promotes a community that is to be identical with his tribe – that part of Poles who uphold traditional social values, support political autocracy, accept a statized economy, and fear rapprochement with Europe. This dooms his project to failure – PiS is not building a community for all inhabitants of Poland, but for some of them, excluding the rest. Instead of de-escalating conflict, it intensifies it, presumably believing that it will be able to win if a war of tribes breaks out.” http://wyborcza.pl/magazyn/7,124059,24399070,smoczynski-kaczynski-wygrywa-bo-obiecuje-wspolnote-schetyna.html

-- MICHAŁ WOJTCZUK ON THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE WARSAW CITY COUNCIL SESSION AND TRZASKOWSKI'S INCONSISTENCY REGARDING THE SKRA STADIUM - writes in Gazeta Stołeczna: “It's no wonder that Warsaw PiS activists wanted to score points with the party as effective politicians who forced Trzaskowski to explain his electoral promises being cut. It must be admitted that they caught the city president being at least inconsistent a few times. For example, on the matter of modernizing the Skra stadium. Let's recall: during the campaign, the president repeatedly announced this investment. Immediately after the election, he began to say that yes, the area around the stadium would be modernized, but the stadium itself – only if a partner could be found for such an investment. At the session, Deputy Mayor Renata Kaznowska repeated this, informing that the cost of the stadium is at least PLN 400 million, and the city can hardly afford such an expense on its own. At least now we know where we stand.”

-- IT IS BETTER WHEN COUNCILLORS BOMBARD WITH QUESTIONS THAN WHEN THERE ARE NO QUESTIONS - WOJTCZUK'S CONCLUSION: “Was the 15-hour session a political show? Of course, it was. But, frankly, I prefer it when councillors bombard the city hall with questions, rather than when there are no questions. Although one can lament that the questions were not asked at the committee meeting, which might suggest that no one was truly interested in the answers.”

-- BIRTHDAYS: Jolanta Hibner, Miłada Jędrysik, Michał Jaros, Agnieszka Pasternak, SUNDAY: Adam Krzemiński.