-- SE'S NUMBER ONE ON SCHEURING-WIELGUS: SHE EARNED 200 THOUSAND AND GAVE AWAY THAT DOG TO A SHELTER. -- KIDAWA AND BUDKA ON PARTNERSHIP ASSOCIATIONS, THE PRIME MINISTER IN THE SOUTH - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2019/05/23/ -- WITOLD WASZCZYKOWSKI ON ACTA2: WE WILL ENSURE MAXIMUM FREEDOM FOR INTERNET USERS - says in an interview with Jacek Nizinkiewicz in RZ: “We will strive to form a coalition in the new European Parliament to bring about changes. We will improve the directive or change it. We can also challenge it at the ECJ. Each state has a large degree of freedom in implementing the directive. We will ensure maximum freedom for Polish internet users. -- THE ONLY THING TUSK ACHIEVED IN THE EU WAS GREAT BRITAIN - WASZCZYKOWSKI FURTHER IN RZ: “The Union was supposed to be innovative, but it is losing to the USA and China. It was supposed to expand to the Balkans, Ukraine, Georgia, but instead, it is shrinking. It got lost in emigration matters. The EU cannot resolve the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the Middle East has been burning for years, including Libya, and Tusk has not distinguished himself as a mediator or a partner for Putin, Trump, or Xi Jinping. The only thing Tusk achieved in the European Union was Great Britain – but outside the Union. And in Poland, playing football.” https://www.rp.pl/Polityka/305229901-Witold-Waszczykowski-Unia-Europejska-ostatnio-sie-pogubila.html -- WOLFGANG SCHAUBLE ON TEXTS WITH MORAWIECKI - says in an interview with Jędrzej Bielecki in RZ: “I am no longer in the government, but as long as I was the Minister of Finance, my relations with my Polish colleagues in Ecofin were always full of mutual trust. The last Polish minister I worked with was the current Prime Minister of Poland. We still have good relations. I kept his mobile phone number, and when I send him a text message, he replies within a few hours.” -- THE RED LINE IS OBSERVING ECJ RULINGS - SCHAUBLE FURTHER IN RZ: “On this occasion, I heard: we do not always agree with the European Commission on everything, we interpret certain European regulations differently. And I replied: Alright! Your opinion is as important and as justified as mine or the Commission’s! But as a lawyer, I say: if we cannot agree on a common position, the ECJ must decide. The red line is therefore adherence to its rulings.” -- POLES DO NOT NEED A GERMAN TEACHER - SCHAUBLE FURTHER: “I am German, I know history. Bearing this in mind, I believe we should focus on maintaining the stability of German democracy. Poles do not need a German teacher for Poland to remain a free democracy. In turn, we Germans do not forget that the reunification of Germany began in Poland, in Gdańsk, with Solidarity.” -- SCHAUBLE ON NOT BEING A SUPPORTER OF NORDSTREAM2: “But I have personally never been a supporter of a project that does not inspire confidence in countries that are our friends and are located between us and Russia. We should avoid acting in isolation, against the overwhelming majority of EU countries.” https://www.rp.pl/Polityka/305229916-Wolfgang-Schauble-Polacy-nie-potrzebuja-niemieckiego-nauczyciela.html -- IF WE WENT SEPARATELY, PIS WOULD HAVE A CERTAIN VICTORY - WŁADYSŁAW KOSINIAK-KAMYSZ IN AN INTERVIEW WITH AGATA SZCZĘŚNIAK IN OKO: “If we went separately, the ruling party's victory would be 100% certain today. Now it is unknown who will win, but there is a great chance because – as surveys show – we are neck and neck. And of course, one must approach this with reservations, as many people have not yet decided who they will vote for. They are afraid, especially when they live in a small town.” -- WKK ON THE COLLAPSE OF DEBATE: “We are all to blame, to some extent. We live by what happened today. Today's morning news, which might last until noon, and at best until evening, not what will happen in 10 years. I dream of a debate where we would discuss melioration substantively. We are threatened by drought, we will run out of food. Shouldn't we be dealing with this? We in PSL talked about renewable energy 10 years ago. Back then, no one wanted to touch it. Now it has somewhat broken into the debate. It's similar with smog.” -- WKK ON PSL BEING A CHRISTIAN DEMOCRAT PARTY: “PSL fulfills all the elements of a Christian democratic party, attached to Christian values and economic freedom, while also emphasizing the principle of subsidiarity. We firmly believe that all competencies that the government can transfer to citizens, it should transfer to them. In Poland, we were moving in this direction, but PiS halted and reversed this progress, because Kaczyński's party wants to concentrate everything in one hand. We must break this.” -- WKK ON THE POMPOUS BUREAUCRATIC-TECHNOCRATIC BALLOON OF THE EU: LET'S END THE OVERLY COMPLEX GDPR: “I wish the Union would let some air out of its pompous bureaucratic-technocratic balloon. Let's end the overly complex GDPR, let Europe talk about fighting cancer, not about the proverbial curvature of the banana. The European Union is not a perfect creation, but no one has invented a better one. It is also a Europe that respects the principle of strength in diversity. A Europe where there is no room for authoritarianism.” https://oko.press/kosiniak-kamysz-na-wsi-tez-nikt-nie-chce-zeby-ktos-mu-zagladal-za-firanki-rozmowa/ -- PSL IS THE CONSERVATIVE WING OF KE - WKK SPEAKS TO SŁAWOMIR SIERAKOWSKI IN KRYTYKA: “We are the conservative wing of the European Coalition. Without this part, there is no chance of winning any elections. Today, many people are trying to compete on the left. Besides PO's own ambitions, there is Biedroń's party, there is also a strong left wing of KE, there is the Together party, we would probably find someone else. But the reservoir of votes there is much smaller than in the center and on the right. I am not talking about the extreme right, because as a centrist party, we do not reach for any extremes, either from the right or from the left. If there is no representation in the European Coalition for this part of the electorate, the traditional, conservative, Christian democratic one, then there is no chance of winning the elections.” -- WKK ON THE PROPAGANDA OF A RAINBOW COALITION: “He entered the European Coalition. And painted it rainbow. Such questions are asked. Also by our members, who also watched television, and often say: damn, the leader here is cool, but why do we support solutions that we haven't supported before. I say that nothing has changed for us. In matters of worldview, there is freedom. Everyone decides according to their conscience, and I consider this to be the best solution, especially for a coalition, but also for any political party.” https://krytykapolityczna.pl/kraj/sierakowski-kosiniak-kamysz-psl-ludowy-wies-eurowybory/ -- PIS STILL THE LEADER - RZ'S NUMBER ONE, BUT IT'S IBRIS: “According to the latest and final pre-election poll by IBRiS for 'Rzeczpospolita', PiS is winning the European Parliament elections, with a result of 38.7%. The European Coalition, supported by 35% of respondents, is second. Compared to the previous poll from May 11, the gap between the largest groupings has decreased slightly – by 1.4%. Political giants are moving away from the remaining groupings. Wiosna (Spring) is third in the ranking, only slightly exceeding 6%, followed closely by Konfederacja (Confederation), and Kukiz’15 is hovering on the verge of the electoral threshold.” https://www.rp.pl/Polityka/305229879-Wybory-do-PE-PiS-wciaz-liderem.html -- WIOSNA (SPRING) COULD NOT KEEP UP THE PACE - MICHAŁ SZUŁDRZYŃSKI IN RZ: “Robert Biedroń's Spring could not keep up with the pace of the election campaign. It failed to capitalize on topics that were convenient for it, such as raising the issue of the LGBT card or pedophilia in the Polish Church. Today, Biedroń should cut out and paste into his diary the polls from a few weeks ago, which gave him over a dozen percent support, because perhaps such a situation will never happen again, and his party will go the way of Ryszard Petru's Nowoczesna (Modern), which squandered its political capital. Spring is fighting for a good result to then bid the highest price from Grzegorz Schetyna, who in the autumn will again assemble a broad anti-PiS coalition.” https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze/305229909-Szuldrzynski-Oczy-wszystkich-na-prog-wyborczy.html -- MORAWIECKI'S LAWYERS EARN IN STATE-OWNED COMPANIES - WOJCIECH CZUCHNOWSKI in GW: “Gide Loyrette Nouel Law Firm – this is a French law firm with a large branch in Warsaw. Attorney Dariusz Tokarczuk, who announced on Monday that Iwona Morawiecka is suing 'Wyborcza', is a senior partner at the firm. On the GLN website, it can be read that it advises the Polish Development Fund (the Prime Minister's pet project) and KGHM. The second partner, attorney Piotr Sadownik, works for the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways, PGNiG, and also KGHM. He also sits on the supervisory boards of state-owned banks PKO BP (he is the chairman here) and Bank Ochrony Środowiska. (...) The third partner is attorney Paweł Grześkowiak – he cooperates not only with PFR and KGHM, but also with Grupa Azoty and the Ministry of National Defence. It is unknown whether, besides professional relationships, anything else connects the GLN law firm with people from the current government.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,24814632,prawnicy-morawieckiego-zarabiaja-w-panstwowych-spolkach.html -- COMMAND CENTER AT PRZYŁĘBSKA'S HOME - GW'S NUMBER ONE (Czuchnowski, Kondzińska): "Wyborcza" reveals. At the home of the President of the Constitutional Tribunal, Julia Przyłębska, PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński, and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki meet regularly. PiS politicians say frankly: "This is an important center of power." -- MINISTERS WERE DISMISSED AT PRZYŁĘBSKA'S - GW FURTHER: “It happens that party leader Jarosław Kaczyński visits Przyłębska two or even three times a week. Not everyone can enter the apartment building at al. Szucha in Warsaw – the building is guarded, and a concierge greets guests. The politician's car pulls up to the main entrance, and the private security guards of the Law and Justice leader wait in the building's reception. Sometimes Kaczyński carries a shopping bag, and his accompanying bodyguard carries a briefcase with documents. At the end of 2017, Morawiecki, then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, began to participate in the meetings. According to our sources in PiS, it was in Przyłębska's apartment that the shape of his government was formed, and ministers considered all-powerful lost their positions. Morawiecki brings flowers and chocolates to al. Szucha.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,24815201,centrum-dowodzenia-w-domu-przylebskiej-ujawniamy-sekretne-spotkania.html -- PAWEŁ WOJTUNIK TELLS BARTEK GODUSŁAWSKI IN DGP ABOUT THE PODKARPACIE TAPES - THE CASE NO LONGER LOOKS AS UNBELIEVABLE AS IT DID INITIALLY: “Not everything seemed credible to me until I watched the program 'Czarno na białym' (Black and White). It turned out that the CBA tried to make J. out to be crazy from the start. This is an old method from the SB (Security Service) era, and it is used in the CBA. Let's take the example of an agent who wrote about Ernest Bejda's ties to a person involved in privatization in Warsaw. A similar mechanism was used against agents who, just before my departure, revealed leaks from the Bureau. The person responsible for this was reinstated, and they were eliminated. The head of the delegation in Lublin exposed an affair on the scale of the Starachowice one, where an agent friendly with the authorities warned the suspects about wiretaps. This person is doing fine, and there is no trace of the director. Here, in this case, the CBA did not anticipate, however, that the agent was recording everything, and the recordings confirm his version. We also know that he had a privileged position in the Bureau. He had very broad powers and was involved in looking for 'hooks'. I am not interested in the sex recordings themselves, but I see a problem because our state simply doesn't work. The CBA is not there to deal with trivial matters, but to keep an eye on the authorities. Instead, it is interested in the opposition.” -- THE TAPES MAY ALREADY BE IN RUSSIA - WOJTUNIK FURTHER IN DGP: “If the Podkarpacie sex tapes were on the Polish-Ukrainian border, and I know the situation in our neighbor's services, then it is almost certain that they are already in Russia. Probably many important people in Poland cannot sleep peacefully. This affects state security. Russians do not plan operations from month to month. Short-term operations there are prepared three years in advance. Imagine what they can do with such knowledge.” -- WOJTUNIK ON THE NEED TO CLEANSE THE SERVICES - FURTHER IN DGP: “Purification will be needed. Descaling of special services and cleaning the police of weeds. It is not by chance that these terms are coincidentally similar to the names of certain people. Some personnel are corrupt, and the services are extremely politicized. Only professionalism and apoliticism, which are the standard in civilized countries, will ensure the proper functioning of the services.” https://wiadomosci.dziennik.pl/opinie/artykuly/598482,wojtunik-sekstasmy-podkarpackie-rosja-wybory-pe.html -- THE BISHOPS' LETTER DOES NOT IMPRESS ME - DOMINIKA WIELOWIEYSKA: “I believe that the majority in the Episcopate still consists of hierarchs who are against accountability for pedophilia. The list of bishops who are either molesting children or covering up pedophiles and transferring them from parish to parish is growing at an alarming rate.” -- PERHAPS POLES ARE SMARTER THAN THE OPERATORS THINK - MICHAŁ KARNOWSKI: “Perhaps Poles, or at least a large part of them, are smarter than those operators think, and they know who is leading the country in such a way that it serves the ordinary person, and who considers the fate of the little ones to be far away? I am not sure, but I think that's how things stand. So, dear 'biomass,' do not despair. The dignity of millions, awakened a few years ago, can be a better shield against manipulation than the pathetic quarter-intellectuals, who so readily present their sense of superiority, think. And yet, they are neither genuinely educated nor even a little bit smart. They are simply immeasurably proud. And pride always leads to downfall.” https://wpolityce.pl/m/polityka/447813-cos-co-mialo-zmienic-krajobraz-znow-rozwieje-sie-jak-mgla -- BIRTHDAYS: Michał Samul!, Hanna Foltyn-Kubicka, Dorota Janowicz, Adam Hofman, Jarosław Sulikowski, Marek Wikiński.