-- DONALD TUSK TURNS 62 ON MONDAY.

-- GRAŻYNA STANISZEWSKA TELLS DOROTA WODECKA IN GW ABOUT THE REACTIONS OF CLOSE PEOPLE WHEN MACIEREWICZ ACCUSED HER OF COLLABORATING WITH THE SB: “Yes, on June 4, 1992, during the ‘briefcase night,’ I was still in the parliamentary chamber when someone approached me and told me that I was also on the list of agents revealed by Antoni Macierewicz. I returned to my room in the parliamentary hotel and cried. Only Jacek Kuroń came to see me. He wanted to comfort me. Others ‘kept their distance,’ probably not knowing how it was. People I was friends with passed me in the parliamentary corridor with a vacant, cold gaze. Yes, the Security Service tried to recruit me, but they failed. I managed. After eight years, the lustration court cleared me of the charges of collaboration with the SB, but Macierewicz never apologized to me for slander.”

-- REVENGE BEGETS FURTHER REVENGE, REMOVE THEM FROM POWER BUT DO NOT DENY THEM THE OPPORTUNITY TO FUNCTION IN THE SAME COUNTRY - GRAŻYNA STANISZEWSKA CONTINUES: “I harbor no hatred. Revenge would be the worst thing. Aggression and revenge always breed further aggression and further revenge. They must be removed from power, but not entirely denied the possibility of functioning in the same country. They are human and must live on something. And, above all, it is worth looking for the reasons for the massive support for PiS in the actions of their predecessors. Only after a thorough analysis can a program be built and mechanisms created that will prevent anyone with a majority from breaking the constitution again.”

-- IT'S A GENERATION THAT DOESN'T READ THE NEWS AND LIVES IN NARROW SOCIAL CIRCLES ONLINE - STANISZEWSKA CONTINUES IN HER CONVERSATION WITH WODECKA: “Young people have no idea that if PiS wins the next election, there will be no democratic Poland and it won't be in the European Union. We didn't sit in prisons for nothing. I talk to young people, and sometimes I get the impression that they are a different species of human and citizen. The day after Paweł Adamowicz's death, when we went to the main city square to express solidarity in mourning and opposition to hatred, young people asked us: what's going on, what mourning? They didn't notice his death! This is a generation that doesn't watch or read the news; they only function in narrow social circles online.” http://www.wysokieobcasy.pl/wysokie-obcasy/7,53662,24682866,krystyna-pawlowicz-brala-udzial-w-obradach-okraglego-stolu.html

-- IF POLAND HAD PURSUED THE SAME POLICY AS PIŚ IN THE 90S, WE WOULD BE BELARUS - JANUSZ STEINHOFF IN A CONVERSATION WITH WITOLD GADOWSKI IN GW: “If such a policy had been pursued then as PiS is pursuing now, there would have been no market reforms, no change in the economic structure, and no chance of Poland joining the European Union. We would have had an economic potential similar to Belarus or Ukraine.”

-- WE CREATED COMPETITIVE MARKETS, HENCE THE SUCCESS - STEINHOFF CONTINUES: “Poland owes its economic success to the fact that for 30 years we created competitive markets, which forced higher quality and cost reduction. Agri-food processing is an example. Farmers were afraid of competition from EU companies, but it quickly turned out that they were doing very well in the European market. We owe this largely to investments from foreign capital, which modernized our food industry. http://wyborcza.pl/alehistoria/7,121681,24675436,janusz-steinhoff-gdyby-pis-przejal-wladze-na-poczatku-lat-90.html

-- PIOTR ZAREMBA ON THE ATMOSPHERE OF TRIUMPH IN PiS - WRITES IN RZ: “However, PiS politicians do not consider themselves crazy. On the contrary, after initial uncertainty, there is an atmosphere of triumph in Prime Minister Morawiecki's circle. They found a reason for it in constantly commissioned polls. They indicate that public opinion is wavering. That support for the strikers is also weakening in groups sympathetic to the opposition. It's hard to blame them, given that Sławomir Broniarz decided to use high school seniors as virtual hostages. Perhaps he was doomed to do so, perhaps not, but it's hard to expect mass approval for it. I write this as a former teacher who would not abandon his students before an exam.”

-- SZYDŁO'S NEGOTIATING SUCCESS WAS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN BUT WAS WASTED - ZAREMBA CONTINUES: “I don't know if breaking the strike after many weeks will be better than reaching an agreement with all unions before the strike. Although the brain behind these negotiations was the aforementioned Dworczyk, he decided on behalf of the prime minister and the PiS leader what was possible and where the limit lay that could not be crossed. But this was supposed to be Beata Szydło's negotiating success. She was showcasing her patience and strong nerves with such verve that even anti-government portals began to praise her sparingly. This display, intended to be the dowry for the entire party in the European elections, was wasted.”

-- ZAREMBA ON THE TECHNOCRATIC MORAWIECKI: “Obsessed with further polls, the young officials of the prime minister, and their technocratic boss himself, still thinking in corporate terms, may consider the shift of the silent majority to their side a victory. But this is a conditional shift, forced by circumstances. It does not mean acceptance of PiS policies as such. Many voters still remember and will remember the impression: they didn't want to give to teachers, even though they handed out a lot of expensive electoral gifts.”

-- DOES MORAWIECKI HAVE SOCIAL LISTENING SKILLS? - ZAREMBA CONTINUES: “However, I will ask about the responsibility of Deputy Prime Minister Szydło, whose task it was to pilot the hot spots in the broadly defined social sphere? And was there no reflection from Deputy Prime Ministers Gliński or Gowin, who could have suggested: since we have burdened teachers with the burden of a difficult, albeit necessary reform, let's compensate them in another area? In the name of the intellectual identity of this government. And what about Mateusz Morawiecki's responsibility? He undoubtedly has a memory for details and a capacity to technically grasp matters better than his predecessor. But does he have elementary social listening skills?”

-- THE LEADER DECIDED TO BREAK THE TEACHERS? - ZAREMBA'S CONCLUSION: “And the leader himself? Well, he's learned that it's easier to approve nominations of directors in lower-level State Treasury companies than to control such a complex mechanism as Poland. Or perhaps, instead of winning over the teachers, he decided to truly break them to their core? Well, in that case, the vision of a more traditional, patriotic, civic Poland recedes even further. Families alone, even if showered with electoral gifts, won't be able to carry this.” https://www.rp.pl/Plus-Minus/304189944-Strajk-nauczycieli-da-sie-zlamac-ale-co-dalej.html

-- PIOTR ZAREMBA ON ONLINE TROLLING OF TEACHERS - IN PRZEGLĄD KATOLICKI: “I am one-sided. I am aware that teachers dressing up as cows do not build the authority of their profession, and Sławomir Broniarz, interested in blocking high school seniors from their exams, is a repulsive figure. However, every tribal side has its warriors. On the other hand, a war with the majority of teachers means one thing: there will be no exemplary, traditional, patriotic school that PiS promised Poles. It has just been trampled on, because the budget priorities are different. Among the Facebook shouters, I see people who post 20, 30 posts a day, multiply malicious memes, and dredge up the wildest accusations. They are doing this while in their prime, supposedly professionally active. They spend all their time on it. And they complain to the teachers that they are not applying themselves to their work. What can one say to that?”

-- SHOULD CITIZENSHIP CONSIST OF SHOUTING? - ZAREMBA CONTINUES: “It's possible that a significant portion of those who have suddenly swallowed simple diagnoses and prescriptions are doing so voluntarily. What's more, it's possible that some of their accusations are individually true. Nevertheless, the ease with which these zealous individuals engage in a campaign consistent with the government's interests... Is this what citizenship should consist of? Of shouting? It's so easy for the rulers to incite aggression towards a professional group because they don't fit into their budget plans? The same happened with parents of disabled children or resident doctors. The same happened, for political reasons, with judges. The first teachers are already stealing drills online.” https://www.przewodnik-katolicki.pl/Archiwum/2019/Przewodnik-Katolicki-16-2019/Opinie/Prosciutkie-diagnozy-i-recepty

-- APPEALS TO END THE STRIKE ARE IN THE GOVERNMENT'S INTEREST - MICHAŁ SUTOWSKI in Krytyka: “Because what will get through to public opinion from the entire KE conference? Basically, that the opposition also calls on teachers to end the strike so as not to spoil family holidays. The KE made a fundamental mistake in its communication, pointed out for years by political psychologists: when criticizing the opponent, i.e., PiS, they invoked his frame of thinking at the beginning. Protest at work (troublemaking, radicalism, children crying at home) vs. family holidays (warmth, żurek and egg, mom and dad at the table). On a literal level, this is nonsense, of course, because it's not a sit-in strike, teachers won't spend holidays in schools, but reality and empiricism are secondary in this case. And Schetyna can emphasize that the KE's appeal is addressed to the government (which was the case), he can later add that it's all Kaczyński's fault (true), that the protest is morally justified (true many times over), etc., but the chain of very unfavorable associations has been reinforced once again.” https://krytykapolityczna.pl/kraj/sutowski-strajk-nauczycieli-deklaracja-koalicji-europejskiej-komentarz/

-- EUROPEAN COALITION HINDERS PROTESTERS, LACKED COURAGE - AGATA SZCZĘŚNIAK in OKO: “In a difficult moment of a massive attack on the striking teachers, the European Coalition lacked the courage to unequivocally support the protesting teachers – regardless of what further form of protest they chose. Today's declaration by the KE leaders will at best cause chaos, at worst – demobilization. The head of ZNP responded firmly to the Coalition's declaration.” https://oko.press/koalicja-europejska-przeszkadza-protestujacym-broniarz-zadnej-suflerki-nie-potrzebujemy/

-- PIS HAS AN OVERBITE - Paweł Wroński in GW: “Konfederacja's success in the May European Parliament elections is only possible at the expense of PiS. It was similar in 2014, when Ziobro's and Gowin's parties took votes from Kaczyński's party. Now, however, PiS's defeat in the European elections could trigger an avalanche that will sweep away this party in the autumn, and the president in the spring of 2020. There are no boxers immune to blows; there are only inaccurately hit ones.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,24684690,zydzi-odbiora-wam-dom-kto-kasa-kaczynskiego-w-prawy-bok.html

-- WE CHOSE TO BE EUROPE'S ASSEMBLY PLANT AND SO WE WILL BE - MACIEJ GRODZICKI (works at the Institute of Economics, Finance and Management at Jagiellonian University) IN A CONVERSATION WITH GRZEGORZ SROCZYŃSKI: “It won't catch up and won't reach it. International economic ties are so strong today that if a country has chosen a specific economic model, it's difficult to change it afterward. We chose at the end of the 90s, after the first transformation shock, that we would be Europe's assembly plant. A good, quite modern, and fast one. On a macroeconomic scale, we benefited enormously from it; we caught up with the West efficiently and reached roughly where one can reach with such an economy. We won't squeeze much more out of it.”

-- WE WILL REACH A MAXIMUM OF 40% OF GERMAN WAGE LEVELS - GRODZICKI CONTINUES: “In 2012, our nominal wages were at one-third of German wages. And today it's still about the same – 32 percent. I bet that in ten years it will still be 32-35 percent, at most 40 percent. Jumping to 100 percent would require replacing our economic model with another one. And that's not happening. Because it's not. Economic models are a bit like car models. If you buy a Fiat Punto and take care of it, do the maintenance, you'll have a working car. You can put alloy wheels on it and cover the steering wheel with leather, but it will still be a Fiat Punto. It's not like you can hit it with a hammer and turn it into a Mercedes. Economic models have their natural limitations and are incredibly durable.”

-- TO HAVE AN ECONOMY AT THE GERMAN LEVEL, WE WOULD HAVE TO BECOME GERMANS - GRODZICKI CONTINUES: “More or less. Let me repeat: the economic model adopted by Poland allows us to reach where we are. The limitations of economies like ours are known from research, comparisons, statistics, and examples from other similar countries. We have to come to terms with this and start thinking about what can be improved within the existing limitations, instead of wasting energy on unrealistic dreams. To have an economy at the German level, we would simply have to become Germans. Have their modern companies, their huge capital, their institutions. Meanwhile, currently, we are working for German companies and capital.”

-- THE CHINESE STOOD BY THE PRODUCTION LINE AND TOOK NOTES - GRODZICKI CONTINUES IN HIS CONVERSATION WITH SROCZYŃSKI: “It can be said that the Chinese stood humbly in their place on the international assembly line for a long time, but they were constantly taking pictures and notes. And now they are replicating everything at home. And not by simply copying Western patents; they are past that stage. They invent themselves now. When we buy Xiaomi or Huawei phones, they are no longer copies, but purely Chinese products, from design through various innovative solutions to assembly. Chinese companies will soon be overseeing the most profitable links in the global value chain, which until now have been reserved for Americans, Germans, Dutch, and French.” http://next.gazeta.pl/next/7,151003,24652456,czy-polska-przetrwa-kolejna-fale-globalizacji-nadchodzi-szok.html

-- THE LACK OF EMPATHY IS STRIKING IN THE COMMENTS AFTER NOTRE DAME - PIOTR ZAREMBA IN PTT: “There is even some truth in these interpretations. And at the same time, one simplification chases another, because to secure themselves effectively, Western governments would have to displace millions of immigrants who settled there decades ago, and on top of that, not let in casual visitors. Of course, we are dealing with reprehensible, at times naive, Western politicians or media, with the silencing of the topic. But the comments of ‘proud Poles’ usually omit a whole host of factors. ‘Nevertheless, we have spoken our minds.’ What, is someone going to forbid it? But what is striking in the first place is the lack of empathy. First, sympathy, a desire to help, then searching for causes and political diagnoses – that would be appropriate. But not with such emotions, not in an atmosphere of a total war of worlds. It has always seemed embarrassing to me.”

-- ZAREMBA ON THE POLITICAL INSTRUCTORS OF ATHEISM - ONE YEARNS FOR GENERATIONS OF WISE AGNOSTICS - “The lectures of the authors of ‘Krytyka Polityczna,’ Jakub Majmurek or Michał Sutowski, on what Catholics can and cannot do, have surpassed all possible absurdity, arbitrariness, and pomposity. One yearns for past generations of wise agnostics. These political instructors of atheism, explaining to us what Notre Dame Cathedral is (a monument, a symbol of France) and what it is not (a symbol of Christianity), appear to me as modern barbarians who do not grasp fundamental codes, including cultural ones. Moreover, they ensure that we remember them in such a role. Here is editor Sutowski, almost shy in public statements, suddenly asking in a long text: ‘Are you guys crazy?’”

-- PEOPLE WITH NO ROOTS HAVE BECOME OPINION LEADERS - ZAREMBA'S CONCLUSION IN PTT: “We are living in a nightmarish time when a significant segment of opinion leaders has become people who are completely uprooted. This is compounded by the logic of online clashes. It's not about truth or meaning, but about hurting the other side more. Here, ‘free thinkers’ theoretically have an advantage over traditionalists. Traditionalists have sacred things, so they get hurt more. Another thing is that they often compensate for this by writing and saying utter nonsense.” https://polskatimes.pl/piotr-zaremba-debatujac-o-tragedii-notre-dame-rozmawiamy-o-sprawach-ostatecznych/ar/c15-14065539

-- BIRTHDAYS: Piotr Gliński turns 65, Andrzej Gałażewski turns 75, SUNDAY: Artur Gierada turns 40, Andrzej Mietkowski, Bohdan Wyżnikiewicz, MONDAY: Donald Tusk, Elżbieta Gelert, Mateusz Nowaczyk, Roland Freudenstein, Gabriel Janowski, Stanisław Kopeć, Wojciech Lubawski, Jerzy Wenderlich, Barbara Engelking.