-- DGP ON THE SCOPE OF KACZYŃSKI'S "FIVE" - IT WOULD BE ENOUGH TO DOUBLE TEACHERS' SALARIES - by Grzegorz Osiecki and Marek Chądzyński: “The money would be enough to double teachers’ salaries. Or to exempt all small entrepreneurs from taxes. Or to solve the issue of Swiss franc loans. (...) An example? If entrepreneurs claim that taxes are stifling them, the amount of PLN 40 billion, which constitutes this program, would be enough to exempt them from these taxes altogether. Because it is approximately the same amount as the entire PIT tax from sole proprietorships in 2017. Those that settle their taxes according to the scale as well as using the linear rate of 19%. With PLN 40 billion at our disposal, we could double the educational subsidy that local governments currently receive from the central budget for maintaining schools. And this means it would be enough for salary increases for teachers, and then some – in fact, their salaries could be doubled”. https://gospodarka.dziennik.pl/news/artykuly/593465,piatka-kaczynskiego-pieniadze-budzet-nauczyciele-podatki-kredyty-franki-autostrady.html

-- FOTYGA AS A PIS COMMISSIONER - as written by Magdalena Rubaj in Fakt: “Anna Fotyga (62) is to be PiS's candidate for an EU commissioner in the next European Commission – Fakt has learned. Only the results of the European Parliament elections can change Jarosław Kaczyński’s (70) decision. – The engagement in the campaign and the election result will have a significant impact on the final choice – a prominent PiS politician tells us”. https://www.fakt.pl/wydarzenia/polityka/anna-fotyga-liderka-w-wyscigu-o-nominacje-na-komisarza/cz2bsyn

-- KACZYŃSKI WILL DONATE THE THIRTEENTH PENSION TO SAVE ANIMALS - GW: „From the very moment the program of thirteenth pensions was announced, the Member of Parliament intends to donate this amount to charity. It will probably be some credible organization dealing with animal rights and protection, or, for example, a collection to buy an animal destined for slaughter” - Radosław Fogiel, director of the parliamentary office of MP Jarosław Kaczyński, replied to Wyborcza”. http://wyborcza.pl/7,155287,24543100,kaczynski-wyznaje-wyborczej-na-co-przeznaczy-13-sta-emeryture.html

-- ANOTHER MEETING OF THE PARLIAMENTARY TEAM - BREAK WITH PLASTIC: https://twitter.com/pomaska/status/1106120044965228545?s=21

-- FORT TRUMP IS SLIPPING AWAY - GW's lead article: “The government has failed to convince America to build a permanent base in our country. Only a slight increase in presence is in question. The Pentagon will reduce costs on NATO's eastern flank by 10 percent. And we are to be happy, because if not - the issue of Jewish property will return”. http://wyborcza.pl/7,75399,24546215,fort-trump-odjezdza-amerykanie-nie-zbuduja-stalej-bazy-w-polsce.html

-- PIS LOVES TRUMP UNRECIPROCATED - Roman Imielski in GW: “Warsaw has already fallen out with key partners in the EU. Viktor Orbán, PiS's closest Hungarian ally, does not hide his love for Vladimir Putin; the new Italian friend Matteo Salvini is openly pro-Russian; the British conservatives are leaving the common Europe along with the entire country; relations with Ukraine are the worst since the fall of the USSR. It is clear that the best possible relations with the US and close military cooperation are the basis of our security. In such an uncertain world, however, strength is gained by skillfully playing on several pianos in the most important halls. It is a pity that the rulers have moved Poland to the sandbox”. http://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,24546189,mialy-byc-bazy-z-wojskiem-bedzie-figa-z-makiem-pis-kocha-trumpa.html

-- EUROPEAN COALITION MANAGED NOT TO LOSE VOTERS DURING UNIFICATION - ŁUKASZ LIPIŃSKI on Polityka portal: “The opposition can be cautiously optimistic due to the fact that during the unification process, they managed not to lose voters. And this despite a massive propaganda campaign from PiS. Politicians of the ruling camp repeatedly claim in the media that the conservative PSL and the liberal Barbara Nowacka must repel each other’s voters. Apparently, this is not happening”.

-- SHOW THAT THEY ARE A REAL ALTERNATIVE - LIPIŃSKI FURTHER: “The coalition will primarily have to present voters with an attractive programmatic proposal that is not just the lowest common denominator of the programs of the groups forming it. To achieve success, opposition parties must convince voters that they are a real alternative to the ruling camp”. https://www.polityka.pl/tygodnikpolityka/kraj/1785674,1,koalicja-europejska-jest-dopiero-na-poczatku-drogi.read?src=mt

-- PIS'S STRENGTH TESTED BY PROTESTS - Zuzanna Dąbrowska in RZ: “PiS remains strong in the polls, but the risk of defeat is growing. Further social groups are announcing strikes”. https://www.rp.pl/Rzad-PiS/190319645-Sila-Prawa-i-Sprawiedliwosci-testowana-protestami.html

-- EUROPEAN COALITION CANNOT IMPOSE ITS OWN TOPICS - MICHAŁ SZUŁDRZYŃSKI IN RZ: “And although society is increasingly secularizing, the division between the European Coalition and the Church is not in the opposition's favor. Moreover, the Coalition cannot impose its own topics. It mainly reacts to the ideas and statements of the PiS leader or organizes press conferences when it finds an interesting topic in the media that can be used against PiS. The campaign is just beginning. And it is the campaign that will decide who wins. This only proves that we are still a democratic country”. https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze/303139916-Szuldrzynski-W-oczekiwaniu-na-kampanie.html&template=restricted

-- RZ SURVEY, BUT ALSO IBRIS: PIS 40, KO 38, WIOSNA 7, KUKIZ 5, KONFEDERACJA 3, GWIAZDOWSKI 2.

-- MACRON PUSHES FOR BUREAUCRATIC SOLUTIONS AIMED AT INCREASING LABOR COSTS IN CEE - SCHETYNA'S RESPONSE TO MACRON'S APPEAL - published by GW: “President Macron rightly writes that ‘progress and freedom are the ability to live from one’s own work’. But at the same time, he is pushing for bureaucratic solutions aimed at increasing labor costs in Central European countries, including Poland, and – as a result – weakening their competitiveness. Attempts to administratively equalize labor costs in the EU, in a situation where enormous inequalities still exist between countries in terms of capital endowments, will lead to job losses in Central Europe. They will cut it off from capital, the inflow of which systematically increases wages here and allows us to catch up with wealthier countries. These attempts, at the same time, do not protect against capital outflow from countries that are insufficiently competitive. Production will still be moved from them, not to our region, but also outside the Union. For the European Union to be effective, it must remain a zone of freedom for people, work, investments, and services”.

-- SCHETYNA ON POLEXIT: “Brexit is an example of how irresponsible government policy can also lead to a country’s exit from the European Union, regardless of the leaders’ official declarations. This is precisely what Jarosław Kaczyński is doing to Poles, the most pro-European of the EU nations. Anyone who has doubts should answer two simple questions. Will Kaczyński, in a potential second term, give up completing the process of subordinating the courts and media to the ruling party? And can a country with completely politicized judiciary remain a member of the EU?” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,24545867,demokratyczna-europo-wracamy-grzegorz-schetyna-odpowiada-na.html -- PUSHING OLD, TOXIC IDEAS FOR THE COMMUNIZATION OF ASYLUM POLICY WILL LEAD TO ANOTHER CRISIS - KONRAD SZYMAŃSKI in conversation with Jędrzej Bielecki in RZ: “Combining these things makes no sense. The resilience of the Schengen area depends solely on the effective protection of its external borders. Attempts to push old, unproven, and toxic ideas for the communization of asylum policy will lead to another crisis, which no one wants”.

-- THE EU CANNOT EXPECT IMMUNITY FROM THE RIGHT TO CRITICIZE IT - SZYMAŃSKI FURTHER: “It has been evident for some time now that the EU expects some kind of immunity from the right to criticize it. This has led to an unprecedented divergence between the Community and social sentiments in many countries. With this reservation, I can emphasize that Poland is willing to cooperate on disinformation within the framework outlined by the European Commission”.

-- EXCEPTIONAL MALICE FROM THE CDU LEADER TOWARDS PARIS - SZYMAŃSKI FURTHER IN RZ: “It is very difficult to defend the idea of two parliamentary seats, but I admit that calling it an 'anachronism' by Chairwoman Kramp-Karrenbauer is an act of exceptional malice towards Paris”.

-- AND YET THE CDU LEADER REJECTED THE IDEA OF A TRANSFER UNION, A TWO-SPEED EUROPE WOULD ACCELERATE THE EU'S DEGRADATION ON THE WORLD STAGE - SZYMAŃSKI FURTHER: “The President wanted to avoid a confrontation with Berlin in this controversial area, which he failed to do, as Chairwoman Kramp-Karrenbauer rejected the idea of a transfer union anyway. Even without being asked. A two-speed Europe would accelerate the degradation of the Union on the world stage. But it has not been relevant for a long time, because in the very core of the Eurozone, we have a very difficult-to-overcome dispute about the future of fiscal policy. And yet, reform of the monetary union is necessary, because although the Eurozone is much stronger today than in 2008, the fundamental causes of the crisis have not been eliminated, and the level of development between the Southern and Northern countries continues to diverge. Under normal circumstances, in a single currency area, significant budgetary transfers are possible, which we do not have in the Eurozone. The revolt of the North concerns the very risk of transfers”.

-- SZYMAŃSKI ON THE NEW EUROPEAN CONSENSUS: “The new European consensus should be based on the development of the common market, a migration compromise excluding mandatory asylum, security policy in synergy with NATO, and potential industrial policy”. https://www.rp.pl/Unia-Europejska/303139918-Szymanski-Dluga-droga-do-odrodzenia-Unii.html

-- THERE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A PROFESSOR LIKE ROTFELD - DOMINIKA DŁUGOSZ-GIERSZEWSKA IN NEWSWEEK: “- A PiS politician about the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: – Disaster. Nothing works here. I was sure it would be a case like Adam Rotfeld. A noble professor, respected by both the opposition and his own party. And it is the exact opposite. He is not respected by the opposition, nor by PiS – he tells Newsweek, asking for anonymity just in case. Another PiS politician adds that there are many complaints about Czaputowicz in the party. – Some are terribly stupid, for example, that when our MPs go to Brussels, they are not greeted with enough attention. Because Norwegians supposedly get something, and they don’t. But some of it is that Waszczykowski at least had a personality – we hear from another politician of the ruling party”.

-- NEWSWEEK QUOTES HALICKI SAYING WASZCZYKOWSKI WAS QUITE ALL RIGHT: “I really never expected to say that Waszczykowski was quite all right – admits Andrzej Halicki from Platforma”. https://www.newsweek.pl/polska/polityka/labedzi-spiew-ministra-czaputowicza-nawet-opozycja-teskni-za-waszczykowskim/le1zdky

-- WERE PO POLITICIANS ALSO ASKED ABOUT FLEEING TO BRUSSELS? - PAWEŁ SZEFERNAKER in conversation with Jacek Nizinkiewicz in RZ: “Don’t joke. When Donald Tusk, Elżbieta Bieńkowska, or Barbara Kudrycka went to Brussels, did you also ask PO politicians if it was an escape from the State Tribunal or from the consequences of their rule?”

-- TODAY, THE CURRENT EU MIGRATION MODEL ORIGINATES FROM POLAND - SZEFERNAKER FURTHER IN RZ: “By presenting our program, we are credible and have had significant successes in the European arena recently. Let me remind you that today’s functioning EU migration model is the one presented by the Polish government after PiS took power, in cooperation with the Visegrad Group countries. We have incorporated many specific proposals into the European Declaration, and further ones will be presented during the campaign”.

-- THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT TO INTERFERE IN THE INTIMATE SPHERE OF LIFE - SZEFERNAKER FURTHER: “According to Article 18 of the constitution, marriage is a union of a man and a woman. As for family and private relationships, everyone has the right to them, and the government is not there to interfere in this most intimate sphere of human life. This is the difference between the European Coalition and PiS; they want to indoctrinate and impose beliefs, while we want to give Polish families freedom”. https://www.rp.pl/Prawo-i-Sprawiedliwosc/190319649-Szefernaker-Opozycja-chce-wojny-ideologicznej.html

-- SHOW THE EVIL OF PIS-STYLE HATRED - MAREK BEYLIN IN GW: “If the democratic camp effectively exposes the evil of this PiS-style hatred, the government will lose the instrument with which it wants to cover up its numerous scandals, injustices, and social conflicts. And its wretchedness will become even more apparent”. http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,24545704,zjednoczmy-sie-przeciw-pis-owskiemu-hejtowi.html

-- JACEK GĄDEK DESCRIBES MACIEREWICZ'S PLANS FOR ANOTHER REPORT AND THE MON'S DISTANCING FROM IT: “The Ministry of National Defence (MON) is distancing itself from Macierewicz's further revelations. Błaszczak has been skeptical of the theories about an attack and bombs on board from the very beginning – regardless of what he says publicly – and would prefer not to comment on Macierewicz at all. This is being done by Deputy Minister of Defence Wojciech Skurkierwicz. Subtly – but regularly – he emphasizes that the report is not MON's affair, but that of the subcommittee itself. Quotes from Skurkiewicz's replies to subsequent interpellations regarding Macierewicz's actions: 'In accordance with applicable regulations, the State Aviation Accident Investigation Commission presents the final report to the Minister of National Defence.' http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/7,114884,24543636,macierewicz-ustala-gdzie-byly-bomby-rodziny-smolenskie-boja.html

-- BIRTHDAYS: Józefa Szczurek-Żelazko.