-- SCHETYNA ON 100 BILLION AND REFORMING HEALTHCARE LIKE WE BUILT ROADS - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2019/05/04/

-- JĘDRZEJ BIELECKI WRITES IN RZ THAT WARSAW HAS GAINED GREATER CONFIDENCE REGARDING PARIS: “Poland’s isolation makes no sense for us – a German diplomat tells ‘Plus Minus’. In Warsaw, Macron’s defeat could not have been met with satisfaction. When the French president wanted to finally visit Poland in April as a gesture of reconciliation, he was refused. Polish authorities feared that the Frenchman might use the occasion to support the opposition before the European Parliament elections. This is also a sign of Warsaw’s greater confidence, which no longer needs to seek France’s support at all costs. A stronger connection with Germany is also evident economically – last year, the value of Polish exports to Germany (EUR 62 billion) exceeded the value of France’s exports to the Federal Republic. And the entire Visegrad Group has already become a significantly more important trading partner for Berlin than its neighbor across the Rhine.” https://www.rp.pl/Plus-Minus/305039974-Francja-oddala-sie-od-Europy.html

-- THE EUROPEAN COALITION IS STALLING - PIOTR ZAREMBA IN RZ: “Polls still give – albeit to varying degrees – an advantage to the ruling PiS. Poles were not frightened by the imaginary threat of Polexit. The government, in a very poor manner, nevertheless weathered the teachers' strike. The European Coalition is treading water. Even if it scores individual hits, the overall impression of its campaign is mediocre, with less than a month to go before the European Parliament elections.”

-- TUSK WOULD DISRUPT EXISTING HIERARCHIES - ZAREMBA CONTINUES: “According to a PiS politician, in order to change anything, Tusk would have to have a real, daily influence on the opposition’s strategy and tactics, and he could only gain that by becoming one of its leaders. Such a vision likely keeps Grzegorz Schetyna awake at night; it is known that the two men dislike each other, and it would lead to rivalry between them; a new leader would bring his own people, disrupting the existing hierarchies.”

-- A PAINFUL, UNPLEASANT FEELING - ZAREMBA ON SCHETYNA COMPARED TO TUSK: “At the same time, the current leader of PO is aware that he is constantly compared to Tusk. He is credited with the virtue of patience and perseverance, but not recognized as a brilliant politician capable of captivating Poles. It is a painful, unpleasant feeling.”

-- TODAY, PIS PROPAGANDA, MUCH MORE CRUDE AND BRUTAL THAN TUSK'S, PROVES MORE EFFECTIVE - ZAREMBA CONTINUES IN RZ: “We don’t know if his moves – from kicking off the campaign against drug dens to the debate about quickly adopting the euro – were so masterful, or if the weakness of the opposition helplessly circling its Smolensk obsessions left him free space. Today, PiS propaganda, much more crude and brutal than Tusk’s, proves more effective.”

-- THIS IS NOT AN ATTRACTIVE OFFER FOR TODAY'S POLES - ZAREMBA CONTINUES: “He has had no real views or goals for years, ever since he abandoned his youthful liberalism from the early 90s. And European politics has taught him mainly superficial moves, slalom, weaving fictional compromises using the jargon of the European elite. This is not an attractive offer for today's Poles.”

-- COMFORTABLE LIFE VERSUS GAMBLING IN A WILD COUNTRY - ZAREMBA’S CONCLUSION ON TUSK’S DILEMMAS: “Today, his ruthlessness has likely not diminished. But would he shed his excess weight? Naturally, the political kind; he looks excellent for his age. A comfortable life versus gambling in a ‘wild country,’ as Poland likely appears to him – this is his real choice.” https://www.rp.pl/Plus-Minus/305039973-Dawny-Tusk-nie-wroci.html

-- IF NOT FOR THE PRL, THE VILLAGE WOULD BE MY PLACE OF RESIDENCE STILL - WŁODZIMIERZ CZARZASTY IN AN INTERVIEW WITH PIOTR WITWICKI in RZ: “I am convinced that Andrzej Leder was completely right in his ‘Slept-Through Revolution.’ A great deal has happened in Poland, and I am an example of that myself. My family’s history is the history of the advancement of a peasant family. If not for the transformations that occurred after World War II, the village would still be my place of residence.”

-- CZARZASTY ON THE WEALTHY PAYING HIGHER TAXES AND ON THE POPULISM OF BIEDROŃ AND PIS: “For many things. I would like to change the entire system concerning pensions and annuities. Here we will find common ground with the PSL. They say they should be tax-free, and I say they should be correlated with the minimum wage. Regarding cash for the least well-off groups, it will end the same way. There is much to be done regarding, for instance, widow’s pensions. Anna Bańkowska’s (former ZUS president, former MP including for SLD – ed.) idea is very simple: one dies, and the other receives 80% of the partner’s pension or their own and 50% of the deceased partner’s. The pension system needs reform, and the choice should be given: 40 years of work for men and 35 for women. I am also for reforming the entire tax system. I believe that the wealthy should pay higher taxes. We propose five rates. I mention this because Poland is now being flooded by a wave of populism. This is PiS-style populism and Biedroń’s progressive populism. Giving people everything they would want and not indicating the source of funding.”

-- CZARZASTY ON THE QUESTION OF PARTNERSHIP RIGHTS: “I’m furious when partnership rights are immediately brought up with the left.”

-- CZARZASTY STATES HE WILL NOT ENTER A COALITION IF THE MATTERS OF UNIFORMED SERVICES PENSIONS, REVOKED BY PIS, ARE NOT RESOLVED: “To my own politicians. To be clear, I will not enter any coalition if the matters of revoked acquired rights for uniformed services are not rectified. I am stating this clearly. I am not interested in such a coalition.” https://www.rp.pl/Rozmowy-Witwickiego/305039972-Wlodzimierz-Czarzasty-Biedron-spowszednieje.html

-- WITHOUT TUSK, THE OPPOSITION WOULD HAVE CONCEDED THE HOLIDAY BY WALKOVER - JACEK GĄDEK in Gazeta.pl: “Without Tusk himself, the opposition would have conceded May 3rd to the ruling camp by walkover. And even so, in terms of turnout during the meeting with Tusk at the University of Warsaw and the emotions accompanying it, they were not impressive. This does not mean at all that there is no social demand for Tusk’s return, because opposition voters are simply lukewarm. This was the case during the Warsaw presidential election – Rafał Trzaskowski’s voters were not visible, but they gave him victory in the first round.”

-- GĄDEK WRITES THAT TUSK SHOWED INTELLECTUAL HEGEMONY IN THE OPPOSITION: “Donald Tusk once again showed his hegemony in the opposition – both intellectual and purely communicative. He has proven this for the hundredth time. And for the hundredth time, he has acted as a concerned politician who is the sole counterweight to the ruling camp.”

-- GĄDEK ON TUSK’S SUBTLETY: “Now he did not allow himself such confrontational language. The closer it gets to the election, the more he weighs his words and cares about his message. The next test of subtlety is on June 4th. Tusk will consistently rebuild his potential in domestic politics, but he makes no declarations about his future. http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/7,114884,24750452,gdyby-nie-tusk-to-opozycja-oddalaby-swieto-walkowerem-gadanie.html

-- HE HAD TO SPOIL EVEN SUCH A MOMENT FOR POLES - MICHAŁ KARNOWSKI ON TUSK: “The lecture he delivered on May 3rd at the University of Warsaw, supposedly about the Constitution of May 3rd, was a flagrant, yet simultaneously rather pathetic, violation of those rules. It was a radical, polemical entry into the election campaign. All the more regrettable because it happened on the day, at the hour of a great military parade. He even had to spoil such a festive moment for Poles. Did he perhaps not believe that he could build interest at another time?”

-- A HIGH SCHOOL ESSAY - KARNOWSKI CONTINUES: “There was little of a lecture there; in terms of intellect, it was more like a high school essay composed of random anecdotes, likely dug up from the internet. Only one deeper thought flashed somewhere in the background: that Europe is threatened today by two tendencies. On the one hand, ‘an attempt to rebuild a nationalistic spirit,’ and on the other, ‘a mood of entropy, disintegration, drifting apart.’ But the answer – effectively reduced to ensuring that things remain as they are – was very trivial and disappointing.”

-- HE DIDN’T MENTION THE VAT MAFIA - KARMOWSKI’S CONCLUSION: “Then we got Tusk the psychologist, musing about internet addiction; Tusk the technologist, worried about China’s power; Tusk the futurist, concerned about the development of large corporations; Tusk the ecologist, concerned about smog (what did he do in eight years?). He only failed to mention the VAT mafia, the fight against which was his duty as prime minister. I’m not surprised.” https://wpolityce.pl/m/polityka/445088-wyklad-tuska-to-zalosne-pogwalcenie-elementarnych-zasad

-- KARNOWSKI ON JAŻDŻEWSKI'S BOLSHEVISM: “Personally, I am not sure whether Mr. Jażdżewski, heated by anti-clericalism and applauded by his followers, will not soon want to do in churches what their predecessors so readily did in Orthodox churches during the Bolshevik era. They are on the same path. And who knows, maybe he will change the name of his publication? I suggest: the former Soviet Union published, among others, ‘Bezbożnik’ (The Godless) and ‘Antyreligioznik’ (The Anti-Religious).” https://wpolityce.pl/m/polityka/445129-jazdzewski-zalozyl-wlasnie-zwiazek-wojujacych-bezboznikow

-- AGATA SZCZĘŚNIAK IN OKO ON TUSK’S NEW POLITICS OF LOVE: “If the European Coalition’s strategy is to be the best anti-PiS possible, then Tusk went against this line. Although his criticism of the current government’s actions was clear, the strongest message of Tusk’s university speech was ‘new politics of love.’ The most symbolic fragment of the lecture is the one comparing ‘politics of either/or’ with ‘politics of and.’ Politics of division with politics of connection, politics of confrontation with politics of negotiation, politics of false choices with politics of true cohesion. ‘Us and them,’ ‘individual and community,’ ‘security and freedom.’”

-- TUSK CO-CREATED MOST OF THE PROBLEMS THAT GAVE PIS POWER - SZCZĘŚNIAK CONTINUES: “What was clearly missing from this lecture, not so much concrete topics (rights of women, LGBT+ people, or workers other than teachers), as the perspective of a person who is co-responsible for some of today’s problems. As a long-time prime minister and politician of the European establishment, Tusk co-created many problems (sometimes through negligence) that became the breeding ground for the rule of PiS and neo-authoritarian forces in other countries. However, it is precisely Tusk today who carries hope and greater understanding of global problems than most of the Polish political class.” https://oko.press/tusk-na-uniwersytecie-ostrzega-przed-antyeuropejska-gra-o-tron/

-- HE EXCLUDED HIMSELF FROM THE ROLE OF THE OPPOSITION’S SAVIOR - MICHAŁ GOSTKIEWICZ IN WP: “But in the first sentence, Tusk de facto distanced himself from the current duel between Civic Coalition and PiS. His role, as he emphasized, is not to engage in domestic elections. He focused on a message of unity, of not engaging in disputes, and contrary to the logic of Polish politics, he emphasized a departure from the divisions of ‘us or them’ and ‘individual or community.’ Although, due to his own political past, it is impossible for his public appearances to be apolitical, he has effectively excluded himself from the role of the opposition’s savior who will lead it and suddenly polls will skyrocket. He has opted for something that has not yet existed in Polish politics.”

-- HE PLAYED THE ROLE OF A MENTOR - GOSTKIEWICZ CONTINUES: “Tusk has shown that he wants – how successfully he does it is another matter – to play the role of a mentor in Polish politics, indicating a path for the entire country, a path opposite to the national-conservative one formulated by Jarosław Kaczyński. He appears not very interested in returning to the front lines of political struggle, where his old enemy would await him – but more powerful, with the state apparatus and propaganda subordinated to him.”

-- A POLITICIAN WHO UPDATES HIMSELF - GOSTKIEWICZ’S CONCLUSION: “You might say: the former leader of PO’s words are an offer directed at young, educated, urban people. That’s true. After all, a nod to young people who couldn’t care less who was in ‘Solidarity’ and who was in the PZPR is a future strategy, because they will be the ones voting soon. But I’ll also say this: not every sixty-something man has that much self-discipline to keep up with contemporary challenges. A certain Polish politician became known for supposedly ‘constantly learning.’ Tusk not only talks about it, he updates himself. A politician who doesn’t update goes to the dustbin of history. Tusk clearly isn’t ready for that yet.” https://opinie.wp.pl/gostkiewicz-tusk-oddal-kaczynskiemu-wojne-polsko-polska-sam-wszedl-na-inny-poziom-opinia-6377035963811969a

-- PIOTR PACEWICZ ANALYZES THE PRESIDENT’S SPEECH: “The president’s speech has 1788 words (excluding the invocation at the beginning). A quantitative analysis reveals the specificity of the language of national pride and PiS’s historical policy. The word ‘Poland’ (also ‘Republic’) and its derivatives – appears 28 times, and ‘state’ – 25 (including 4 times ‘strong state’). The subject of achievements is also ‘nation’ (11 times). Poland’s ‘merits’ (4 times) for the world are also described by the word ‘shaping’ (8 times) and ‘influence’ (3 times). Duda, with a strange predilection, uses the term ‘moment’ (11 times) or ‘point’ (3 times) of history, often ‘fundamental’ (5 times). This refers to exceptional events in our history, starting with the baptism of Poland, and especially the actions of Poles (never Polish women), ‘wise’ (3 times) and ‘brave’ (3 times), which shaped the destiny of Europe and the world. These evoke ‘pride’ (2 times) in the president. Duda used the words ‘Europe, European Union’ as many as 43 times, but each time (!) in a Polish context – our merits for Europe and tasks within the European Union. In the president’s speech, almost everything is ‘great’ (22 times): ‘great is Christian Europe,’ ‘great historical moments,’ ‘a great example for Europe,’ ‘our great, Polish contribution,’ ‘great achievements,’ ‘great patriotism,’ etc.” https://oko.press/duda-na-tle-tuska-czyli-samochwala-polska-wielki-polski-narod-uksztaltowal-ten-swiat/

-- GW ON ANNA ZALEWSKA AND THE PCK AFFAIR: “Jerzy G., as director of the Lower Silesian branch of the Polish Red Cross, supported many local government officials in the 2014 elections. Primarily those from PiS and those supported by Anna Zalewska, but also those through whom he and his wife could earn money on the supervisory boards of municipal companies.” http://wroclaw.wyborcza.pl/wroclaw/7,35771,24750630,pck-w-sluzbie-wyborow.html

-- BIRTHDAYS: Wojciech Mucha, Andrzej Bober, Maciej Orzechowski, Marek Niedużak, Ryszard Zbrzyzny, Redbad Klynstra-Komarnicki, Grzegorz Cydejko, Andrzej Kania, SUNDAY: Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, Witold Waszczykowski, Witold Kołodziejski, Tomasz Wróblewski, Kamil Dziubka.