-- SCHETYNA ON TUSK AT THE MARCH AND DECEPTION WITH THE LAW, KWAŚNIEWSKI AT THE MARCH, THE PRIME MINISTER ON FOOTBALL WITH EXTRAKLASA - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2019/05/17/ -- PMM OPENED POLAND HOUSE IN BRUSSELS, WHICH WAS ESTABLISHED THANKS TO SUPPORT FROM ORLEN, AMONG OTHERS

Jesteśmy dumni, że uczestniczymy w projekcie, który będzie wzmacniał pozycję polskiego biznesu w #UE! ?????? @PKN_ORLEN https://t.co/QUP2Vmg6Z8

— Daniel Obajtek (@DanielObajtek) May 16, 2019

-- THE JUDICIARY AVOIDED DE-COMMUNIZATION - VICTIMS OF COMMUNIST REPRESSION WRITE IN AN OPEN LETTER: “The outrage expressed by part of the judicial community and the political formations supporting them is an attempt to silence the difficult, painful truth about the Third Polish Republic, which for many years relied on communists or individuals compromised by collaboration with communists in its key areas. We believe, however, that the truth will prevail. And that the judicial reform, although initiated with a multi-year delay, will be brought to completion.” https://www.rp.pl/Sedziowie-i-sady/305159934-Sadownictwo-uniknelo-dekomunizacji---pisza-ofiary-komunistycznych-represji.html -- RZ COMMENTARY ON THE ENTREPRENEUR TEST - IS THIS THE ATMOSPHERE IN WHICH WE WANT TO ATTRACT POLES FROM ABROAD BACK HOME? SERIOUSLY? “These individuals are often given a choice by companies: whether they want to work as employees taxed like vodka, or perhaps they prefer to operate as sole proprietors. The problem for most of them is not employers pushing them into self-employment, but the appearing and disappearing regulatory ideas and the entire tax muddle. And in this atmosphere, we want to attract Poles from emigration back to the country? Seriously?” https://www.rp.pl/Blogi/305169853-Skolowani-testem-przedsiebiorcy.html -- MP PIONTKOWSKI IS A CANDIDATE FOR THE HEAD OF THE MINISTRY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION - JUSTYNA SUCHECKA IN GW: “Dariusz Piontkowski, a Member of Parliament from Podlasie, is the most serious candidate for the new Minister of National Education. - But the search is still ongoing, he cannot be certain of this nomination - we hear in PiS. (...) In March, his homophobic statement on TVP Białystok caused a stir: – What is the sexualization of a child from the second or third year of life supposed to lead to? In reality, it is an attempt to raise children who will at some point be handed over to pedophiles. The slogan of adoption of children by homosexual couples leads, unfortunately, to a situation where some children will be raised for non-standard sexual behaviors.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,24790596,dariusz-piontkowski-faworytem-do-zastapienia-zalewskiej-w-men.html -- EWA SIEDLECKA ON GAPS IN THE AMENDMENT TO THE PENAL CODE - INCREASED PENALTY FOR RAPE BUT NOT FOR MOLESTATION - WRITES IN GW: “Characteristically, PiS did not propose an increase in penalties for sexual exploitation of a child other than rape. However, priests most often commit 'other sexual acts' against children. Therefore, the famous registry of pedophiles, which PiS boasts so much about, does not record them (incidentally: statistics do not confirm that the number of offenses for which one is entered into the registry has decreased since its launch). Moreover, the Minister of Justice has reserved the right to decide who to include and who not to include in this registry. We do not know if and how he uses it. In addition, this lack of statute of limitations will again not apply to the majority of cases of priests abusing children, because the offense of 'other sexual acts' will still be subject to a five-year statute of limitations.” -- THE FOUNDATION'S REPORT AND SEKIEELSKI BROTHERS' FILM ARE SUFFICIENT GROUNDS TO INITIATE AN INVESTIGATION - SIEDLECKA CONTINUES: “The report submitted to Pope Francis by the Nie Lękajcie Się Foundation and the film by the Sekielski brothers should be treated as information about possible crimes, and an investigation should be initiated ex officio. And no special church-political-social commissions are needed to access church documents. An officially initiated investigation grants law enforcement agencies access to them – of course, excluding the seal of confession. This course of action can also be recommended to the opposition if it takes power. It is enough to apply existing law and break the alliance of the altar with the throne, which has lasted in Poland for 30 years.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,24793348,zaostrzenie-kodeksu-karnego-czyli-pedofilia-wyborcza.html -- PIS IS INCREASING PENALTIES AND NOT SEEING THE VICTIMS - ZUZANNA DĄBROWSKA IN RZ: “And the most important question today is to consider whether the legal actions that will result from the changes introduced by PiS are aimed at gaining a few points in the polls, or at protecting victims and compensating for their harm. If the current government, by passing its project through parliament, had addressed the concept of establishing a commission independent of the Church – perhaps it would have been able to defend the claim that it is acting 'for the good of children', but simply increasing penalties will change nothing.” https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze/190519531-Zuzanna-Dabrowska-PiS-zaostrza-kary-i-nie-widzi-ofiar.html -- POLICE ON THE TRAIL OF THE SEKIEELSKI FILM - GW front page. -- THE CURRENT CRISIS IS MEANT TO FREEZE THE OPPONENTS OF THE NEW LEFT - JACEK KARNOWSKI: “That's how it looks. The issue of pedophilia interests the opposition (and the broader left) only insofar as it fits into its worldview dogmas and political plans. When someone says that the picture might look different than generally perceived, when they cite hard data, we are met with the baton of moral blackmail. Unfortunately, there will be more of this. The current crisis is intended to freeze and paralyze all ideological opponents of the new left. This is the goal, increasingly less concealed. That is why they are hitting so hard at everyone who dares to speak up. And that is also why we must not be afraid, we must speak the truth. Both the truth about the scandalous affairs in the Church, and the truth about the political and social goals of this entire operation.” https://wpolityce.pl/spoleczenstwo/446949-lewica-manipuluje-slowami-prof-legutko-chce-cenzury -- ONET SURVEY SHOWS IMPROVEMENT IN PRIME MINISTER'S RATINGS, BUT IT'S IBRIS: “Mateusz Morawiecki came in second in the poll. The Prime Minister is trusted by 44.2% of respondents (an increase of 1.7 percentage points). 42% of respondents think otherwise. It is worth noting that compared to the April survey, the head of government gained the trust of 1.7 percentage points of respondents and 'lost' a negative image among 6% of respondents.” https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/tylko-w-onecie/sondaz-ibris-dla-onetu-duda-i-morawiecki-dystansuja-donalda-tuska/8vql1vx -- IN THE SURVEY FOR NEWSWEEK, THE OPPOSITION HAS AN 11-POINT LEAD...: “Support for PiS was 33%, which is a drop of as much as 6 percentage points compared to the poll conducted by the firm a week ago. Meanwhile, 43.6% of respondents would vote for the European Coalition, i.e., the alliance of Civic Platform, Nowoczesna, SLD, PSL, and the Greens.” -- AND IN THE SURVEY FOR WPOLITYCE, PIS HAS A 5-POINT LEAD...: “Although the ratings of Jarosław Kaczyński's formation have slightly decreased (to 36.6%, i.e., by 0.2 points), the lead over the European Coalition is greater than it was. The formation built by Grzegorz Schetyna enjoys the support of 31.4% of respondents; in the previous poll, it was 32.6%, an increase of 1.2 points. Our survey indicates that the anti-Church pogrom primarily benefits Robert Biedroń's Spring – support for this formation continues to grow, reaching 14.3% in our survey. This is almost 2 points more than in the previous wave.” https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/446813-sondaz-dla-wpolitycepl-wyrazna-przewaga-zp-nad-ke-sprawdz -- THE PRIME MINISTER'S EUROPEAN CAMPAIGN - ANNA SŁOJEWSKA IN RZ: “Mateusz Morawiecki is boasting in Brussels about the successes of EU membership. And he announces an offensive in the fight for Polish interests and money.” https://www.rp.pl/Rzad-PiS/305169870-Europejska-kampania-premiera-Morawieckiego.html -- TWO LARGE COUNTRIES FOR WHICH THE UNION IS A TOOL TO RAISE THEIR INTERNATIONAL STATUS - ZDZISŁAW KRASNODĘBSKI IN CONVERSATION WITH JAKUB MAJMUREK IN KRYTYKA: “Hopes that the Union would prove to be a mechanism preventing the dominance of one or two countries and the return of a 'concert of powers' have proven to be in vain. Today, we have in the EU, or at least we will have after Brexit, two large countries for whom the Union is a tool to raise their international status and conduct their own global game – France and Germany. And several medium-sized countries (Spain, Poland) and many small ones, which do not want to be used in this way. Therefore, the principle of unanimity in making key decisions for the Union is very important. It is this, more than strong community institutions, that protects the interests of smaller states. One can only regret that the Union is increasingly departing from this principle in its voting.” -- ECR VOTES MORE OFTEN LIKE EPP THAN THE GREENS - KRASNODĘBSKI CONTINUES: “We are not a Eurosceptic party at all. The faction in which PiS sits in the European Parliament, the European Conservatives and Reformers, is not as far from the European center as the Polish media portray it. If you look at how we vote in the European Parliament, you will notice that our vote is very often similar to the vote of the European People's Party. We agree with them much more often than, for example, the Greens. And yet, the EPP is the most mainstream group in Europe.” -- KRASNODĘBSKI ON THE PROBLEMATIC TIES OF THE NEW RIGHT IN THE EU WITH RUSSIA: “And this is one of our problems in conversations with politicians like Salvini. But social democracy, for example, German SPD, some Christian Democrats, and also the far-left, are also fixated on Moscow.” -- KRASNODĘBSKI ON LEGAL FACILITATIONS FOR GAYS: “When I speak of registered partnerships, I mean certain legal facilitations that are necessary for humanitarian reasons, not partnership unions, let alone the redefinition of family or marriage. In the text you are referring to, I defend the fundamental institutions of our civilization. 'LGBT ideology' is not the main topic of our campaign.” https://krytykapolityczna.pl/kraj/krasnodebski-majmurek-eurowybory-wywiad/ -- PIS HAS STALLED AT 35% DESPITE COLOSSAL SPENDING - ALEKSANDER KWAŚNIEWSKI IN PTT: “Jokes aside, let's look at it precisely. Polls show that PiS has its stable electorate at around 35 percent. The European Coalition reaches into the thirties, although a movement has emerged on its side, I mean Biedroń's Spring, which will take a good ten percent of the votes. On the opposing side, there is also Kukiz, so it turns out that the political scene in Poland is divided almost exactly fifty-fifty. True, the European Coalition cannot surpass PiS, but PiS itself has a different, more serious problem. PiS has stalled at around 35 percent - despite colossal spending and offers for voters: 500+, thirteenth pension, positions, despite the propaganda machine. This was also visible in the local government elections.” -- ON THE EU LIKE BIELAN AND SZYMAŃSKI, NOT PAWŁOWICZ - KWAŚNIEWSKI CONTINUES: “One should speak honestly about the European Union, and I expect the ruling camp to speak about it in the words of Konrad Szymański or Adam Bielan, not Krystyna Pawłowicz. I myself see the weaknesses and bureaucratic limitations of the Union. But they do not negate the most important fact: it is one of the most important political projects of our civilization.” https://plus.polskatimes.pl/aleksander-kwasniewski-uczmy-sie-swiat-coraz-grozniejszy/ar/c1-14138065 -- BIRTHDAYS: Marta Poślad, Igor Sokołowski, Mariusz Brzozowski, Ben Stanley, Beata Małecka-Libera.