-- 300LIVE - TOMCZYK ANNOUNCES MOTION OF NO CONFIDENCE AGAINST MINISTER OF JUSTICE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2019/08/26/ -- PIS STUCK ON PICNICS - PAWEŁ WROŃSKI IN GW: “Law and Justice, having unlimited campaign funds, outpaced the opposition in the election campaign with the 'picnic' formula. However, it seems they have remained stuck in this formula and, surprised by their own troubles, have no idea how to continue the campaign. Something has become worn out. -- PIS STEPS INTO KOMOROWSKI'S SHOES - CONTINUES WROŃSKI: “In this way, PiS paradoxically finds itself in the shoes of Civic Platform and PSL, who, during Bronisław Komorowski's campaign, were convinced that the entire electoral cycle would end in their success – because society should be grateful to them for saving the country from crisis, and nominating Donald Tusk as President of the European Council is a sign of the highest recognition.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,25120716,pis-utknal-na-piknikach.html -- BUDGET WITHOUT DEFICIT - JEDYNKA RZ: “As early as Tuesday, the Council of Ministers is to review the draft state budget for 2020 at its weekly meeting. As "Rzeczpospolita" learned from sources close to the government, this is to be the first financial plan in the last 30 years to assume that the state treasury will be balanced. This means that there will be no need to borrow money to cover all necessary expenses.” https://www.rp.pl/Rzad-PiS/190829527-Budzet-bez-deficytu-Dworczyk-Historyczna-chwila.html -- THESE AMOUNTS COULD BE USED MUCH BETTER THAN FOR WHOLESALE BENEFIT PAYMENTS - RZ COMMENTARY: “Looking at state finances from a slightly broader perspective, a balanced budget will have a significant symbolic weight, but beyond that, its significance will be negligible. More important than the budget balance is what the state manages to achieve within this budget, i.e., how well public money is spent. And on this matter, one thing is certain: the amounts the government allocates to wholesale payments of child benefits and the thirteenth pension can be used much better.” https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze-ekonomiczne/308259924-Budzetowa-schizofrenia.html -- DGP ON THE FICTION OF A PRE-ELECTION BUDGET - as written by Bartek Godusławski and Marek Chądzyński: “None of these solutions will be implemented,” says our government interlocutor. The reason? “The fewer controversial proposals before the election, the better. And each of these ideas raised controversy. Like the plans to introduce the entrepreneur test, which were quickly abandoned after Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki's intervention, triggered by criticism from entrepreneurs. The excise duty idea was also postponed to avoid giving the opposition fuel for attacks that government decisions would cause prices to rise even further. And the project to abolish the 30-fold cap has opponents even within the ruling camp. – The budget cannot include these proposals; there are not even draft laws that would implement them. You only need to look at the calendar to know that it makes no sense to present them now,” claims our source.” https://gospodarka.dziennik.pl/finanse/artykuly/605936,budzet-wybory-piatka-kaczynskiego-pieniadze.html -- THERE ARE MANY PROPOSALS THAT WILL BURDEN THE POCKETS OF POLES - STILL IN RZ: “There are also many proposals that will directly burden the pockets of Poles. These include, for example, the abolition of the 30-fold cap on contributions to social security (ZUS), which is expected to generate about PLN 5.2 billion in state revenue, but will strongly impact employers. There is also an increase in excise duty on alcohol (PLN 1.1 billion), new rules for collecting the so-called plastic bag fee (PLN 1.4 billion), or a solidarity tax for millionaires (PLN 1.1 billion).” https://www.rp.pl/Budzet-i-Podatki/308259926-Rzad-PiS-obiecuje-pierwszy-rok--bez-budzetowej-dziury.html -- PIS BACKED DOWN UNDER PRESSURE FROM THE DEVELOPER LOBBY - ADRIAN ZANDBERG IN GW: “I mentioned this in my speech: Law and Justice, with 'Mieszkanie plus' [housing program], simply backed down under pressure from the developer community. It's a very strong lobby. We will not back down. There will be a program of public housing investment, and it will change the Polish housing market. The Left knows how to build affordable housing for ordinary people, as it has proven in many Western European countries. Just look at Vienna, a city where, according to many housing policy experts, this problem has been solved best. It is the work of Austrian social democracy.” -- MOST SALARY ON RENT - CONTINUES ZANDBERG ON POLAND 2019: “It's 2019! In 1989, when the PRL ended in Poland, I was nine years old, and Marcelina Zawisza [the leading candidate for the Left in Opole] had not yet been born. Instead of getting bogged down in the past, let's finally deal with our Polish here and now. People who came to our convention are infuriated by the fact that they have to spend most of their salary to pay rent. They are infuriated by the fact that it is unknown why the Church decides for them how they are allowed to live and what they should do – even if they are not religious. They want change. This change is coming because Poland is already changing. And it's high time for this change to enter Polish politics too, because it doesn't have to constantly revolve around who didn't give way to whom 35 years ago in the underground or who got offended by whom. Let's push Poland forward!” -- MICHAŁ SUTOWSKI ON THE NEW QUALITY OF THE LEFT - writes in Krytyka: “The program of the Left, announced on Saturday, is a new quality for at least a decade. Here is a formation that is fighting for a double-digit result and will be essential for a potential change of power after the elections, offering voters an answer to PiS's social policies on the one hand and the right-wing culture war on the other. And on the issue of restoring the rule of law, it competes with KO in decisiveness and radicalism. The accusation of unrealistic promises will surely be made, as the costs of the proposals are indeed enormous. It also lacks a slogan – a rhetorical atomic bomb, which the whole of Poland would be forced to talk about – like Kukiz's district elections or PiS's '500 plus'.” -- SUTOWSKI ON WHO BENEFITS FROM THE LEFT'S PROGRAM: “The Left's program has clear economic beneficiaries: primarily the public sector, salaried employees, seniors, young families – still long-term without their own homes, and the progressive part of the young generation. And that's good, because the Left is not meant to please everyone. If these postulates are communicated well, the subsequent beneficiaries can be honestly identified: the public transport industry, producers of RES technologies (wind farms!), qualified scientific and economic staff, people with disabilities and their caregivers. But also – residents of areas where various 'local entrepreneurs' install livestock farms that poison people's lives and the environment. It is highly desirable, for example, to link the issue of animal protection with criticism of the so-called lex investor, i.e., the PiS law limiting the influence of residents on the location of polluting industries.” https://krytykapolityczna.pl/kraj/lewica-program-wyroby2019-pisze-sutowski/ -- THE LEFT FEELS BETTER WITH ITSELF - AGNIESZKA WIŚNIEWSKA - Editor-in-Chief of KrytykaPolityczna.pl: “Just as the three ladies showed that the three parties forming the Left can complement each other well, the three gentlemen, every time they appear together (which happens often recently), show how different the environments they come from are, how different they themselves are, and how they manage to play out this natural tension between them surprisingly well. There is something exotic about this trio, something like the Marx Brothers. Zandberg, introducing Czarzasty, added to a few biographical details that Czarzasty attends pride marches, publishes Naomi Klein's books, and cooks kasha. Czarzasty immediately retorted about where he got this kasha. I don't know where Zandberg got it, but it's possible he read it in Żukowska's text on 'Krytyka Polityczna'. Anyway, it doesn't matter. This and many similar scenes clearly show that the three partners find each other's strengths and emphasize them.” https://krytykapolityczna.pl/kraj/lewica-konwencja-programowa-laczy-przyszlosc/ -- THREE POLITICIANS, NOT THREE TENORS - JAKUB MAJMUREK: “The Left's program convention was opened not by three tenors, but by three female politicians. They spoke about a secular state, women's rights, and education. This sent a clear signal: the Left is focusing on women and the progressive electorate in this election. On all groups that do not find themselves in the offer of the PiS-PO-KO duopoly.” -- A DECENT LEFT-WING PROGRAM - CONTINUES MAJMUREK: “Left-wing voters received a decent, left-wing program. The biggest problem, however, is that even if the Left formed a government with PO-KO, very little of its program seems feasible to implement in the next four years. The mere presence of such proposals, however, gives the Left a chance to be counted, shifting the Polish political scene from the right flank towards European standards.” https://opinie.wp.pl/jakub-majmurek-czy-lewicowy-sen-o-jutrze-porwie-polakow-opinia-6417034234775681a -- ECOLOGY NOT ON THE PERIPHERY - PIOTR WITWICKI IN WP: “Bill Clinton, when he once stated: 'It's the economy, stupid,' wasn't discovering that this topic was important to Americans. It was about changing the emphasis. It was pointing to what should be important in the campaign. Ecological topics also don't need discoverers. Perhaps just pointing out that their place is not at all on the periphery of public debate.” https://opinie.wp.pl/piotr-witwicki-ekologia-glupcze-opinia-6416994911774849a -- PEOPLE DON'T WANT TO SIGN PETITIONS - REPORT IN LOCAL GW: “Besides the visible fatigue with politics, there is something else. – People refuse to sign petitions out of fear of sharing their PESEL number, 'because someone took out a payday loan on a friend's PESEL.' This is not funny at all. This was not an isolated case – says Jacek Borowiec.” http://bielskobiala.wyborcza.pl/bielskobiala/7,88023,25118988,jedno-sie-pis-owi-udalo-zohydzili-ludziom-polityke-wole.html -- ON THE ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION OF OLGA TOKARCZUK'S BOOKS WORLDWIDE - NATALIA SZOSTAK IN GW: “It seems that American reviewers have grasped the writer's intentions and do not perceive 'Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead' as a crime novel. 'The New York Times,' which calls Tokarczuk's novel 'wonderfully strange, fairy-tale-like, and full of mystery,' explains to its readers: 'This book is not an ordinary crime novel. It is a philosophical fairy tale about life and death trying to reveal their secrets. Secrets that can be felt in your bones if you put your ear to the ground.'” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75517,25107582,amerykanie-kochaja-olge-tokarczuk-jej-prowadz-swoj-plug.html -- A TVN24 JOURNALIST WHO DECIDED TO CHANGE HER LIFE AND MOVE TO ZANZIBAR WITH HER FAMILY: “Not entirely, although lately domestic politics has been greatly bothering me. I don't want to look at it because it makes me sad. Some processes can no longer be stopped. I also don't like the kind of journalism we have to practice lately. One politician or another says something, and we build relationships and stories on that, while truly important matters escape us.” http://poznan.wyborcza.pl/poznan/7,105531,25110199,bede-miec-hotel-na-zanzibarze.html -- THE FAMILY ON THE FAREWELL OF PIOTR STARAK AND HIS LOVE FOR MAZURY: https://www.se.pl/wiadomosci/gwiazdy/pogrzeb-piotra-wozniaka-staraka-rodzina-podala-date-i-szczegoly-dwudniowych-uroczystosci-aa-mk9H-at3z-UkwQ.html -- 2ND ANNIVERSARY OF GRZEGORZ MIECUGOW'S DEATH. -- BIRTHDAYS: Jerzy Haszczyński, Maciej Maciejowski, Pawel Potoroczyn.